If you have come across this blog then this is a question I have asked myself many times. I don’t know the answer but I am trying to find it.
There are a lot of people out there talking about a clutter free, slow and simple life and I see the benefit in it and want to find my own version of this. But I have not found anyone quite with my specific issues that are going through this journey or have come out the other side
Please don’t get me wrong and if you know of anyone please let me know.
So let me break down my current situation
I am a 46 year old female who lives in a two bedroom council house alone (social housing owned by the local council). I live on disability benefits so I am on a pretty tight budget. (as most of us are in the year of 2023 especially in the U.K) I have many mental and physical limitations (Bipolar, extreme anxiety and Fibromyalgia to name a few). These and others led me to weighing around 403 pounds at the end of January of this year which really isn’t good.
I have always been an introvert and prefer to stay home and the company of my cats than socializing. I have a boyfriend but we have NO plans of ever moving in together and we are very happy like that and have made work for over 10 years most people don’t understand but it really works for us.
But in this period I somehow lost sight of myself. I could hardly function and things got on top of me. I became stagnant. I let my home stagnate and this was no way to live but I couldn't at the time see a way out. I was so overwhelmed every time I thought about helping myself I didn’t know where to start. Sometimes every thought would spike my anxiety and become paralyzed and scared. It sounds unreal but if you had anything similar then you have my sympathy.
So I wanted to declutter my life but why?
I want to make my life as easy as possible so when I am having a bad day, week or even months then I will have less stress and hopefully be able to seek help when I need it. And that I can help myself, because I will have systems and routines in place that I know will work. My life is so complicated already so I need to make what I can as simple as possible.
I am going to go against advice and not focus on just one as I am sure these will have a knock on effect on each other.
By decluttering and cleaning I will be using more calories than normal and combining this with eating less will positively affect my weight loss. I will also be making myself feel better when I get to see the results of all the hard work I have already put into losing weight. I have already started removing the clutter in my home but I feel like Shrek (Shrek: “Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it?) and I feel like I have layers and my relationship with my clutter has layers. In my initial declutter I got rid of the easy stuff and now I am coming across sentimental, identity and the One day clutter and that unearthing a whole host of emotions.
I know I have a long way to go but already I am feeling that I am on the right path. Join me on this journey or if you have been on a similar journey and have any advice please I need all I can get.