What do you do when decluttering feels overwhelming?
Decluttering overwhelm is a common struggle!
If you’re not in the habit of regularly cleaning out your drawers, closets, and shelves, decluttering can feel like an overwhelming project that you just don’t have time for.
Personally, I find decluttering and organizing to be therapeutic and energizing (I’m nerdy like that), but I know that many women find it to be tedious and overwhelming.
And honestly, I can understand why!
When a project like decluttering builds up over a long span of time, it’s difficult to know how to begin. So where do you turn when decluttering feels overwhelming?
You might want to start with your brain!
Is Your Brain Lying to You?
It’s been scientifically proven that our brains will believe the things we tell them over and over again—whether they’re true or not.
Let’s talk about neuroplasticity for a minute. Here’s a simple definition of a very complex science:
Neuroplasticity is “the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.”
Basically, your brain is capable of all kinds of change—it’s never stuck!
Scientists used to believe that our brains were compartmentalized, specialized, and fixed. It’s only been in the past 50 years or so that scientists have completely debunked that theory!
Your brain is a miraculous creation—and you can positively impact it by the very thoughts you think and words you speak.
“The brain simply believes what you tell it most. And what you tell it about you, it will create. It has no choice.”
—Shad Helmstetter
This is why it is so important that we are always speaking truth to ourselves—even when it comes to things like decluttering and caring for our homes!
When you think about decluttering, do thoughts like these play in your head?
“I have so much stuff that it would take me years to declutter it all!”
“I’ll never have beautiful, organized closets.”
“No matter what I try, my house will always look like a tornado hit it!”
If the mere thought of decluttering feels overwhelming to you, it might be because you’ve unwittingly allowed words like those to play repeatedly for a very long time. You’ve been programming your brain to believe lies that you now accept as truths.
But you can change your brain!
Your Brain Can Change Everything
Over the past year, I’ve been studying neuroplasticity and using it to heal the chronic health challenges I’ve been experiencing since 2014. The transformation has been nothing short of incredible!
After experiencing a debilitating—and mysterious—chronic illness for several years, I started to believe that I was never going to get better.
I was burned out from countless doctors, appointments, tests, assessments, diets, supplements, and treatment plans that didn’t work.
Thoughts of never recovering began to play over and over in my mind—even though I wanted nothing more than to feel good again! I started to feel hopeless because it seemed like vibrant health would always be out of my reach.
But over the past year, I’ve witnessed some amazing changes in my body because of neuroplasticity!
Do you know when I finally started to recover?
It was when I finally believed that my body was capable of healing! My world shifted when I trusted that my body was created to heal, and when started to rewire my brain.
Thanks to a brain retraining program (DNRS), my body has slowly—FINALLY—been returning to normal! I’m so, SO grateful.
You might think that this sounds completely farfetched and woo-woo, but that, my friend, is just how powerful our brains are.
Many others suffering from mysterious illnesses and brain trauma have experienced similar results by harnessing the power of neuroplasticity!
When you change your brain, you change your life.
So what does my healing journey have to do with decluttering overwhelm?
Everything.
If I was able to heal my debilitating and seemingly hopeless health challenges by changing my brain, then you can overcome your decluttering overwhelm by changing yours.
Remember, your brain is a miraculous creation!
Use it.
When Decluttering Feels Overwhelming, Hack Your Brain
After seeing such an incredible transformation in my health, I began to apply the principles of neuroplasticity to other areas of my life. It’s really quite versatile!
Let’s look at 3 practical ways you can hack your brain when decluttering feels overwhelming.
1. Stop the Tape
The first step to moving forward is to stop yourself from feeling overwhelmed. You have control over the recording that plays over and over in your brain.
Listen for the lies when decluttering overwhelm creeps in. If you catch yourself saying something like, “My house is never going to be decluttered!”, stop the tape.
With conviction, say, “Stop, stop, stop!” Speaking it out loud is best.
Remember how cassettes and VHS tapes work? You could rewind the tape and record over the previous recording.
STOP the recording playing in your head and rewrite the tape.
2. Rewrite the Tape
The next step is just as important as the first—we’re going to rewrite the tape.
Without truthful words to replace the lies, you won’t make lasting progress. Literally speak to yourself out loud if you can! The truth is powerful.
“Small steps lead to great progress.”
“Extra space and time are more valuable to me than clutter.”
“Decluttering my home will give me good insight into my spending habits.”
“I can bless others by giving away the items collecting dust in the back of my closets!”
“Decluttering will help me to feel more relaxed and at ease in my own home.”
“I brought these items into my life, and I can take them out.”
Write down your own set of truths so that you can rewrite the tape! You’ll need to continue to speak these words to yourself over and over again to create new neural pathways in your brain.
“Repetition is a convincing argument.”
—Shad Helmstetter
Remember, if you hear the familiar lies return, STOP the tape, and START speaking truth to yourself!
3. Start Small
To avoid overwhelm, try not to think about all of the spaces in your home that need attention. Instead, focus on one small category at a time!
I created a free decluttering checklist to help you get started—the Home Declutter Kick-start!
The Home Declutter Kick-start is an easy-to-follow decluttering checklist that’s broken up into 6 different rooms—the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, utility room, office, and family room. Each room contains a short list of things for you to declutter—and then check off.
Easy peasy!
Once you make your way through the Home Declutter Kick-start, you’ll have the momentum you need to keep decluttering.
Get yourself moving, so that you can STAY moving!
The Home Declutter Kick-start is a totally FREE printable, so go ahead and download your copy! Plus, by signing up for the decluttering checklist, you’ll also gain access to all of the other freebies in my resource library!
It’s a win-win!
You CAN Declutter Your Home!
You can do this.
You can declutter your home!
I know you might be feeling like a beautifully decluttered home is out of reach, but I promise you that it is not.
Follow the steps above, download your decluttering checklist, and take small, intentional steps.
Wanna know something crazy?
Every thought we think and every word we say has a chemical impact on our physical health. So instead of telling yourself things that are simply not true, think—and speak—life-giving words!
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
—Proverbs 18:21
How do you beat decluttering overwhelm?
My husband has always been a disorganized person. We just celebrated 21 years of marriage and I’m afraid that may never change. He also suffers from a mysterious chronic illness which causes him constant pain. After having a second baby last summer at age 46, I’ve got me hands full with a very healthy but active toddler and an almost ten-year-old. Our home looks and feels like a disaster most of the time. I’ve pretty much given up hope that he will ever change. His father is the same way, a collector of many things. His mom struggles with the mess as well. As believers in Christ, we know that God can do anything. I don’t want my children to be negatively effected by this. What can I do?
I’m trying to get organized
I’m sorry you’re struggling with this! Prayer is powerful. I would definitely commit it to prayer and ask God to give you wisdom. I would start by decluttering the things you can—whatever he doesn’t care about—and try to go as minimal as possible with those things. Maybe buy organizing bins for his things and then see if you can encourage him to use each bin as a limit for that category/ type of item. Since he’s reluctant to let things go, I would just chip away at the decluttering little by little so that it’s not a dramatic change all at once. I hope it goes well for you!