I won't even get into any more of the things that can happen as you go through the different phases of your life - I think you get the picture. But sometimes when we are totally stressed and overwhelmed and have a multitude of things on our minds, something really serously troublesome happens. Our surroundings start to mimic our state of mind. We don't feel like hanging that up; we'll do it later. The laundry basket is full; I don't feel like laundry today. I'm too tired. I'll do it later. We rush out the door in a hurry. On the way we see things laying about and have an impulse to pick that stuff up and unclutter which lasts all of about 60 seconds, and we shove it into a drawer which we label "the junk drawer" in our heads. "I'll do it later; I'm in a hurry." This is the beginning of the phase I find myself in at the moment. I have written about it on Faceboook - about my decision to hire a professional organizer to help me "sort things out." So, instead of doing the usual thing that people do in January every year, i.e, joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer, I have hired a professional organizer. You see, I know for a fact that the cluttered piles in parts of my house is symptomatic of what's been going on in my head for so many years. Stress accumulates. The seemingly never ending conversation about exercise and how exercise actually creates miracles in your life especially the part about "getting rid of stress" by exercising, or whatever, is old. I could run till I dropped of a heart attack, but the stress and the worry over what the stress has caused would still be there if I happened to live through the heart attack. I know that exercise is good for you, but the idea that the treadmill will take away your stress is just wrong. Stress and its results go way too deep for the treadmill to handle. Stress hangs out in the corners of your mind, and it accumulates as does the "stuff" hanging out around you.
And, true to my earlier mention of God being up to something, he surely has. He has sent me the most astonishing, wonderful, gifted, loving person to help me. She is a professional organizer. And she loves God. I think he picked her just for me and guided me to her. This is not an extravagance as far as I'm concerned - it's an investment in good mental health. And it's a pathway to PEACE. So, now that I am a woman of a certain age, what is PEACE?
You are most likely wondering by now why I have talked about dating, and marriage, and divorce and being a single mom, and all the passages we go through in life. It comes down to one word: STRESS As we go through those passages we accumulate stress which will in the future contribute to an accumulation of clutter both in the mind and in our surroundings.
PEACE is a state of mind in which you can rest without agitation or feelings of guilt. PEACE is knowing that God has it under control and will certainly show you the way to peace if you ask him for that. PEACE is an uncluttered mind free of encumbrance - a mind that has been set free. And if you think your home and your clutter cannot hinder your peace, you are just wrong. It has robbed me of my peace for a long time now, however, while I've gotten down to nothing, God has been up to something.
This woman of a certain age is on a pathway to peace.
Please note in the videos below that the word STRESS always comes up. You can't seem to find anything that talks about clutter without also hearing the word STRESS.
Favorite Links:
a peaceful organized life
My own amazing professional organizer's website
colorcoded.net
New York Times article on CLUTTER
And guess where it appears. Well, in the HEALTH section, of course.
Videos
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