Pushing Through Frustration While Simplifying….

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_{• Goodreads •}

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Introduction. I recently saw this quote and instantly thought about the fact that it can apply to so many aspects in life. For our Simple Living Community on Simplicity’s Journey, this quote is very inspiring. Throughout our decluttering process, we have to deal with so many feelings through sorting our excess items. However, there is one emotion that we consistently revisit – that being of “frustration”. Frustration over having so much to sort through, frustration over having so many unnecessary items that our hearts and minds wants us to keep, frustration on the number of times of having to go back over the same spaces to declutter, and frustration on having so many feelings that we have to deal with – with each item that we sort through…. and this goes on and on.

The End-Goal. What I love about this quote is the way that it encourages us to focus on our end-goal rather than our individual frustrations along the way. Now, I know that this can be much easier said than done. However, whenever these feelings of frustration come up and begin to deter or distract us from effectively decluttering, we can let these feelings be what let’s us know that we need to pause for a few minutes. During these few minutes, we can take a short break and use this time to re-focus from our frustrations and think about how we want our space that we are working on to look when we are finished. Many times this can help us to move past our feelings of frustration and be able to restart our decluttering project.

If after trying to re-focus, those feelings of frustration do not subside, there is something else that we can do to help us so that we can concentrate on our goals for our spaces. Getting out photos that we took of our rooms before we began decluttering or even of another space that got previously, completely decluttered could be very encouraging to look at. Looking at photos that help us see our progress that we have made previously can give us the determination to be able to continue on decluttering our current spaces.

Pushing Through. Currently, one space that I am working on is our basement. This is my largest decluttering project and is a space that has definitely been challenging for me. It has a large number of sentimental items, furniture, and extraneous, family belongings. It is a huge undertaking. Other than breaks, looking at photos of past decluttering progress, and visualizing the desired end-result of my basement, I have found that working in shorter increments of decluttering time helps to reduce my frustration with this space. I set my timer for 15-20 minutes and then take a 10 minute break. For me, this is enough time to make progress in this challenging space without getting too frustrated before my break. Then during my break, I can use decluttering photos or visualization (or even vision boards) of the future of this space to help keep me going when the timer for my break goes off.

Closing Thoughts. Each space that we work on can be a challenge for us. However, if we continue to focus and even re-focus (when necessary) on the end-result, we can continue to make progress. I want to encourage you to keep planning and decluttering your living and storage spaces; transforming them into the beautiful ones that you are envisioning. I know that you can do it! Keep in mind that every time that you invest your time in decluttering, you are getting closer to achieving your goals…. and remember, I believe in you and know that you can do it!

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What simplifying project(s) are you working on that has/have a tendency to cause you to feel frustration? What do you focus on (the result[s]) to help you to keep working on it?

• We would love to know. Each of us has ways and things that we do to focus on to a frustrating project(s). Seeing and hearing about that perseverance can be enough for those of us that are struggling with a project to be inspired to keep working through our frustration(s) to finish the project(s).

So, let us continue to support one another by answering the above questions in the Comments’ section below. Thank you for sharing and helping others in our Simple Living Community. We sincerely appreciate it. • Take Care, Kyra

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