Midlife Confidence and Courage: How Decluttering Creates Space for Growth

What if clearing out a drawer, a room, or even just one shelf could spark fresh energy in your life? In this solo episode, Kim shares her personal story of clearing out two rooms in her home—and the surprising clarity and motivation that followed. Discover how physical clutter impacts our mental and emotional energy, why decluttering is an act of courage, and how creating space in your home can lead to powerful action in other areas of your life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How clutter drains our energy and keeps us feeling stuck
• The connection between a clear space and a clear mind
• Why decluttering is especially powerful in midlife transitions
• Simple steps you can take to start clearing clutter today
• How making physical space can open doors for new confidence and courage

Takeaway:
Clearing clutter isn’t just about tidying up your home—it’s about releasing what no longer serves you so you can step boldly into your next chapter.

Let’s Connect:

• Join the conversation inside the Flourishing After Forty Facebook group
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little clarity and courage
• Subscribe to the Midlife with Courage podcast so you never miss an inspiring episode

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Transcript

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Kim 0:00

Hello ladies. Welcome back to Midlife With Courage. I'm Kim Benoy and today I want to share something that surprised me in a really powerful way. Recently, I cleared out two rooms in my house. You know, the kind of project where you keep putting it off 'cause it's just too overwhelming. Well, I finally did it. I noticed something unexpected after I did it. Not only did my house feel lighter, but I felt lighter too. I had more clarity, more energy, and I even took big action in my business afterwards. So today I wanna talk about how clearing the physical space, the physical clutter around us, can also clear our energy. And why that matters so much, especially for us in midlife. If you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just ready for a reset, this episode is for you. Let's get started. So, yes, this week I am sharing about what happened in my house this last week. I actually had. Two rooms that I, I really needed to clear out. I've been collecting stuff in both of them. One was my office and the other was our extra bedroom, which full disclosure, that's the dog's room. The dog sleep in there. We have Jake's crate on one side of the room, and then there's actually a twin bed in there that Pepper sleeps on. She's 11 years old. We kind of baby here a little bit. So anyway, she has her own bed and that room also was just collecting stuff. And I just had it in my, my mind and my heart to clear it out. So I started with my office because a. As you've kind of been hearing about, I've been doing some changes to the business. I've been trying some new things and I needed to get a new computer and all these things, and so I needed to clear out my office, I had stuff in here from Christmas, and it's already as I'm recording this in September. Just all sorts of stuff. So I went through my desktop. I went through, I have this old dresser that I, I redid. I painted it, and that's where I store my essential oils and some other stuff there. Anyway, I went through everything and I just got rid of a whole bunch of stuff. I love putting things in the garbage bag and taking it out. I recycled all sorts of stuff and that felt so amazing and it helped get me kind of going, as I needed to start doing some new things with the business and my podcast and everything. And then last week I decided to tackle the dog's room, and that was. It was really a mess. It was really dusty. I mean, two dogs sleeping in there. There's a lot of dog here and there. So I dusted and vacuumed. But more importantly, I got stuff outta there. We had this old dresser that I had picked up at a garage sale, and we had been putting in things like my old work paperwork, there was neonatal resuscitation from when I was a labor delivery nurse. Um, there was, you know, CPR certificates, um, HR stuff from all these jobs that I had had, and I didn't need any of it anymore. So I spent that the first day just going through there, getting rid of everything I could in there. And I realized there was only a few things in that dresser, and I probably didn't need the dresser either. So. That went out to the curb and on the free page that was gone within a few hours. And that felt so good just to get a piece of stuff out of there. And it opened up space. And then there's a little desk in there with my kids, you know, my kids are grown up stuff in there. I went through some things, organized it, got rid of things. Stored some stuff in a storage unit, which is not mine by the way. It belongs to my daughter, but got rid of stuff. She had her toy box in there. We got rid of that yesterday. Just all these things. And oh my gosh, it felt so good. So that was on Saturday and then Sunday. I like to listen to podcast, of course, and I listened to one and it's got me thinking about my podcast. And I've been working on this program that I wanna do for women. And these thoughts just kept flowing and coming, and I'm writing things down and just seeing things better. I have more clarity. And it was amazing because I know the two things are connected. Clearing out that physical. Clutter and stuff helped me release some energy and get some energy flowing and it's been really amazing and that's why I wanted to share that with you because clutter can weigh on us. You know, if you're walking through your house and you see these. Not piles of stuff, but stuff that you really don't need. Maybe you look in your closet and there's clothes you haven't worn for five years. It just makes you feel heavy, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually sometimes too. And sometimes that just, like I said, it weighs you down and you sometimes you get so overwhelmed you don't know what to do, so you just don't do anything. You kind of stop. So. It's really important. If you're trying to feel not stuck, look around you. There might be something that you can do to help get that energy going. Maybe there's something that you started that you haven't finished. I knew I needed a new computer. My computer couldn't even update because it was so old. So I knew I needed a new one, which also meant that I needed some money. So I had to figure that out. Got that figured out. And here I, I've got a new computer. It's amazing how this can help you. So when we're thinking about decluttering. Here are some great benefits of decluttering. Mental clarity. Like I said, same thing happened to me. There's less distraction. You can make decisions easily or more easily than you probably could before. There's an emotional release too. Letting go of some old things can free you from guilt, regret or attachment. Physical energy. When you have a clean, open space, you feel lighter and you feel. Like you can move better and you do move better. It gives you more energy and it's just more inviting. I love, after I finish both rooms, I love to stand in there and just look around like, oh, this is amazing. I can breathe in here. It's amazing. And then it gives you a momentum taking action in your home or wherever happens to be. It spills over into taking action in other things like your business like happened with me. Decluttering is not easy. It is not as simple as I'm just gonna do it today and be done with it. It, it takes a while. Like I said, I've been looking at that dog's room for months and months and thinking this needs to be changed and my office as well. And I, I knew that I had to do it before I could move on. But it takes courage to do that 'cause there might be some things. That you don't wanna let go because they're attached to someone or something that's important to you. But it takes courage to face that and to face our stuff, stuff in quotes, in releasing things means that. We're trusting that we don't need those things to feel secure in ourselves. I've been talking a lot about how we need to go within ourselves. You have the courage inside you. You have that confidence. We just need to build it up and you need to take some steps. This is one of those first steps that you can do. If you can think about it as not losing something, you are gaining space for new things to come in. So decluttering is about creating space for the new to enter, to come in and open up amazing opportunities. So maybe you're thinking you've got something that you wanna declutter, you wanna release, you wanna let go. You're looking for that spark to kind of get things going. Start small. Is there a drawer? We all have those junk drawers. That was one of my COVID projects. Honestly. I, I had this junk drawer in our kitchen. I went through that thing and I, I got rid of so much stuff. It's still pretty organized, by the way, but it's still a junk drawer. But maybe there's a shelf, maybe there's one corner of your room that you don't like, you know? If you have a chair in your room or an office sometimes that tends to collect clothes or things that you're not quite sure what to do with, so you just put 'em on the chair, clean off that chair, check that off. You'll feel amazing. When you're looking at things to decide, do I need this or not? Ask yourself, does this thing, this object, does this support who I am and who I'm becoming? If the answer is no, you don't need it, you can get rid of it, you can release it. And when I say get rid of it, it doesn't have to be throw it away. And the garbage, you could donate it, you could give it to someone if they want it. Of course. There may be someone who could use whatever it is. Lots of opportunities to donate. But then when you do that. Say you cleared out a small space. You start took a small first step. Notice how you feel afterward. I bet that you are going to feel lighter and more energized, and if that happens, when that happens, celebrate that progress. You took a step, maybe you took two steps, but once you take those first steps, they're gonna lead to other steps. So how does this. Relate to midlife women? Many women in midlife are already in a place of releasing things. Their kids, you know, empty nest, kids are moving out, they're going off to school. Maybe you're shifting careers, maybe you're changing your priorities, maybe you're thinking about, doing something totally different. Physical decluttering kind of mirrors the emotional and spiritual decluttering. Happening in midlife women. So, I'm in this changing, pivoting, renewing my business, and I needed to get rid of that physical stuff to help me move on energetically. It helped, it worked. It's great. Not done yet, but it's coming. So remember, don't think of it as losing something. You are making room for courage, confidence, and clarity. I'm gonna say that again. Don't see it as losing something. Think of it as making room for courage, confidence, and clarity. So just remember. Couple tips before we end this. Clear some space. Clearing your physical space is gonna help create momentum in the other parts of your life. Try it for yourself. Start with something small. Start with a desk drawer. Start with a shelf. Start with that chair in your bedroom. That's gathering stuff. Look in your closet. Pick out five outfits that you don't wear anymore, or five items of clothing. Get rid of them. Send them off to a donation. There's always places to take it. And then I want you to share with me and another little reminder for my beautiful midlife women. Midlife isn't about holding onto everything. It's about courageously creating space for what matters most. So I hope this has resonated with you. Thank you for joining me this week. Clearing clutter might seem just like another chore on the list, but as I've experienced, it can be a doorway to something new and fantastic. New energy, new ideas, and the courage to take action in the other areas of your life. So remember, think about one small space that you could clear out this week, whatever it happens to be. Notice how you feel afterward. And then celebrate that you did it. Those little steps, that little step can lead to big things. If this episode resonated with you, I would love it if you would share it with a friend who might need a little encouragement too., If you're not part of my Flourishing With 40 Group yet, I think you should join. There's a link to it in the show notes and share with me in that group, what space you're clearing out and how you feel afterward. And we could talk about like, what are some big things coming. Until next time, remember that midlife is the perfect time to let go of what no longer serves you and create space for what truly lights you up. Take care of your beautiful self and I'll talk to you soon.