Ep. 60 | ... and you really have to let it go (it's time to declutter)

Maybe you're like me and you really have to let it go.

In this episode I share my personal journey of decluttering both my physical space and mental load. Through relatable stories, I reflect on the importance of letting go of unnecessary items and old habits that no longer serve us. The conversation highlights the spiritual significance of decluttering, emphasizing the need to make room for new opportunities and growth in our lives. My unexpected experience serves as a metaphor for the distractions that clutter can create, urging listeners to take action and trust in God's provision.

Takeaways

• Clutter distracts you from what's truly important.
• Intentions can become mental clutter if not acted upon.
• Letting go of old habits is essential for growth.
• Decluttering is a spiritual journey as much as a physical one.
• Making room for new opportunities requires action.
• It's important to trust God for our needs rather than hoarding items.
• Small, consistent actions lead to significant changes over time.
• Emotional attachments to items can hinder our progress.
• Decluttering can lead to a clearer mind and better focus.
• We should not just move things around but truly let them go.

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Transcript

You're listening to Maybe You're Like Me, the transparent musings of a God girl chasing after her purpose. Maybe You're Like Me is a podcast for dreamers and doers who take life's lessons and level up to look more like Christ. We'll connect through super relatable stories, growing pains, and aha moments that most of us share, just not always out loud. I'm your host, Alicia Watson, creative entrepreneur, playwright, author, wife, mother, daughter of the king, and so much more. And I can't help.

But to think that maybe you're like me. Hey, beautiful people. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Maybe You're Like Me with Alicia Watson. It's me, Alicia Watson. It's been a long week. How are you guys holding up? The snowstorm for us wasn't terrible, but the aftermath kind of had us stuck in the neighborhood for a few days because they didn't plow. The kids didn't go to school at all. All five days they were home.

So we spent some extra time together and that was nice. I made two shopping trips before the storm and the food almost lasted. It almost lasted, almost. I have two teens, so hey, what do you expect? Thankfully the pipes didn't burst and the power didn't go out, which was my main concern. As I was preparing for the storm, my plan included pulling a car into the garage and then opening the door in case we needed to keep warm there if the power went out. But my husband quickly burst that bubble.

reminding me that there is no room in the garage for a car. Imagine that, no room in the garage for a car because there's stuff in the garage. All the stuff, stuff we need, stuff we don't need, stuff we want, stuff we don't want, other people's stuff. It's just all thrown in there, all thrown in there together. And it's been like this for some time because for me, sometimes object permanence goes right out the window. It's out of sight, out of mind.

I don't know what's there until I see that it's there. This week, my garage clutter was in sight and in the way. And for one very specific reason I'm going to get to later in the episode, it was very much on my mind. I'm at the point where I have to be honest with myself and ask, did you let it go or did you move it around? And of course, the answer is the latter and it doesn't serve me. And maybe that's the same for you. So maybe you're like me and you really have to let it go.

So a lot of things were canceled this week, but what wasn't canceled was my husband's tech rehearsal for a play that he's in. The play ended up getting canceled after all, but that's beside the point. He's dedicated and he's committed and he's a good guy. So he dug the truck out and he went. But he went out through the garage because it was icy and snow on our walkway and we didn't need him to fall or anything. So that was probably the smart thing to do. But the thing is he left the garage door open.

When my son went to take the garbage out later in the evening, he found some stray cats hanging out in our garage. So he said one ran away and the other hid under one of our lawnmowers. So I went into the garage to see it for myself. I shook the lawnmower and nothing happened. So I just closed the door and went on with my night. That was on Wednesday. On Friday morning, my son yells out to me, was that you? I asked what's what me? He said, he says, I heard some meowing. I said, no way. I go to the garage door.

And I hear it too. I open the garage door and to my surprise, the cutest little kitten that I've been seeing all around the neighborhood catches my eye, runs and hides. Long story short, it took me almost two hours to get that baby out of there. He was scared. He was probably very hungry. He was small and he could move. I had to move a mattress. I had to move like eight chairs, a bed frame, a kid's bike and all kinds of other junk to get to him. And he just kept slipping from my grasp.

So I tried to coax him out with some milk in a can of tuna and he was not having it. I remembered this random video that I watched that was saying you could speak the cat's language and tell a cat how to come here. And it was working, right? So I kept that in the back of my head because we have a lot of stray cats and I like cats, even though I'm allergic to cats. I thought maybe that would work and I wanted to test it out for myself. So I used my cat language to cat call the kitty and y'all it started talking back to me, but it was definitely not coming to me.

So I was speaking cat, but I needed a translator because we were just holding a little conversation. Him in his hiding space, me standing there, meowing away like a mad woman and a cat responded. So I guess I wasn't mad. I just didn't know I was seeing. So I dug out some more and eventually I found him. I shown my flashlight back to him and I saw him and I tried to grab him to pick him up like a mama cat would, but he dipped low and he dashed to the other side of the garage, which had even more stuff.

and he hid on that side. So I cornered him under a shelving unit and then I blocked all of his exits and I moved some things and I just kept trying to get to him, but I couldn't like get underneath the unit. But then it occurred to me that he didn't have enough sense to scratch or bite me yet. So eventually I was just able to just like press him down so he couldn't keep moving and just like scoot him out towards me. And then I could scoop him up. I took a little scrap towel that we had that we use to like dry the cars off with.

and I wiped his cobwebs face, like green gunk in his eyes. And I just, you know, made him, returned him to his little cuteness, but it freaked him out. So he scrambled and flipped and ended up getting out of my hands again and ran right back under the unit. So I had to move some more stuff, but eventually I used the same scoop method and got him out. Then I wrapped him in a towel so he can move around.

finished cleaning his face. And then I just kinda gave him some like pets and some scratches and he kinda calmed down and he started purring and it was just the cutest thing. So I brought him inside and showed him to my kids and we all were just melting, but we couldn't keep him cause I'm allergic. He was outdoor cat so he needed to go back. So I waited at the edge of my garage for his mama. I had seen on my camera that she kept coming back towards the garage doors for about five or six times that morning, every 20 to 30 minutes.

but she didn't come back quick enough for me, so I wasn't about to be standing out there in all that cold. I set up a little box, I wrapped him in the towel, and I went to set him into the box. And of course, he could walk, so he ran off, and I was like, right, duh. He ran underneath my other car and started meowing and calling for his parents, and eventually, one of the cats, the dad, came down the street, and he ran off across the street, and so did the baby. They were reunited, and I was happy. It was a super cute ending.

but I just couldn't help thinking, thank God that it was just a cat. Because what if it was like a possum or a raccoon or a snake or something else dangerous just chilling in our garage? I wouldn't have known it was there because it wouldn't have been meowing. What if it had died? We'd just been smelling that for days in our walls, maybe even weeks. Clutter distracts you from what's there. If I didn't have enough incentive to like declutter, before I have it now.

As I was moving things around, it occurred to me that I hadn't seen that part of my floor in years. I keep my house pretty clean, but this garage was my equivalent of telling my kids to clean their rooms and they just throw their stuff in the closet and under the bed. It's clean, technically, but there's still stuff to deal with. It's not good enough. It's not accomplishing what I meant when I told them to clean. And that's the same for me.

It's like, yay, we redecorated my daughter's room. Baboo, the garage is now full of stuff we don't want or need anymore from my daughter's room. Usually I save things with good intentions. Someone might want this bed. I might be able to repurpose this light fixture. I'll use this artwork eventually. It reminds me of the show Hoarders. Like there's always a reason. An attachment to the stuff, maybe a sentimental, maybe it's trying to be responsible about it. I think I'm the latter. I hate being wasteful. I think about the landfills anytime I throw something away.

I think about the people in need when we have stuff that's like barely used and in really good condition. But even still, I haven't gotten this stuff to them by way of donations, by way of exchange or by nothing or free groups on Facebook. So am I really helping by keeping it? Because I have it and they don't. It's here, it's not with them. So are they really getting the benefit out of it I'm saving it for? Sometimes I think I can resell some of the stuff like when my son speaks.

We're growing by like two sizes at a time. He has so many fresh pairs of shoes, like clean, nice, cool, barely worn sneakers. In my mind, somehow they translate to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in resale value. But let's be honest, if I was gonna resell them, I would have sold them by now. Yet, I keep them and everything else just in case. For whatever good reason, it's not a helpful reason.

Matthew 6 19 through 21 says, not store for yourself treasures on earth where mouth and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store for yourself treasures in heaven where mouth and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Storing up treasures. That's what this is. Even if the stuff isn't treasured by me, I think this treasure is in my good intentions. I see value in the stuff in a way. So maybe they are treasured by me.

But this stuff is nevertheless a distraction. It's weighing on my mental load. It's in the way. It's hiding what's truly there, which is space for our car. And it's hiding the things that we have that we do want to keep and that we can actually use. You can't see those things and don't remember they're there because of the clutter. This applies to mental clutter too. Things that you're holding onto that you're just planning to do something about later. Eating habits you want to get rid of.

With therapy, you're going to start one day. That retirement or savings account you're going to open. That certification that you've been thinking about getting forever. That new tradition you're going to start with your children. Intentions and ideas, they become mental clutter when you procrastinate because they're hidden by fear and overthinking and perfectionism. You have to ask yourself, what's getting in the way of what you truly want? What's stopping you from getting rid of it? And sometimes there's a good reason, like me wanting to give things to people who need it.

But the reason's not good enough to let it keep taking up space, physically, mentally, or emotionally. Lately, I'm asking myself a lot what's truly important. And am I trusting God to give me what I need when I need it? Or am I holding on to things because I trust myself more? Am I trying to be my future resource or am I trusting Him to be my source in the future? We should be determined to make room for what we truly want through action. Trash it, donate it, or use it. Trust that it will.

or something better will come back to me and you if and when we truly need it. I'm even seeing why this is important to me spiritually. Clutter comes as a result of evolution. We've outgrown these things. They don't match the aesthetic, they don't work, they don't fit, or we're just no longer interested in them because they remind us of where we were and who we've been and not of where we're going or who we want to be. Keeping them means subconsciously holding on to old ways of being and thinking.

onto other people's expectations of you and cultural and societal norms that restrict our movements and our opportunities and our options. And just like the mess in my garage, the familiar clutter hides things that are out of place and needs to be put out. We can't hold on to the old ways of doing and being when we're trying to be like Christ. Ephesians 4, 17 through 24 says, so I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking.

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they've given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires and to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self created to be like God and true righteousness and holiness. Second Corinthians 5, 17 and 18 say, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. And all of this is a gift from God.

who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. Putting off your old self, embracing coming a new creation is decluttering. It's getting rid of the old ways of thinking, the old habits, the old ways of being that didn't serve you and definitely don't serve God. Decluttering is a big part of my expansion plan for this year. I'm making room for what I need and hope for in this season.

I'm letting go of attitudes and behaviors that don't glorify God and decluttering my mind from the responsibility of getting rid of things, getting rid of ideas, mindsets that are no longer aligned with where God is taking me. I'm letting light hit places where it hasn't shown in years. I'm seeing things that I forgot were there. I'm clearing the slate and welcoming newness and a fresh perspective. That's what I'm on. In my mental space and in my physical, today I'm encouraging us to get rid of it. Don't just move it around. Don't hide it away for an opportune time. That's not you anymore.

That's not me anymore. We don't need it. Give it away if it's good, if it's worth anything, or get it away if it's not. However it needs to go, let it go. And I'm starting now. I was planning on spring cleaning because, you know, I don't love doing anything when it's cold. But realistically, I was out in that garage for all that time trying to get that cute little kitty out, and I survived. I didn't even have a coat on. I was focused and I was determined, and it got done. So I can spend just as much time and energy.

Or more. Getting a jumpstart on my goals, even in the cold. I mean, the garbage truck comes weekly. I don't even have to do a lot. A box here, a bag there, a trip to the donation center about 10 minutes away. I'll look up and before I know it, the space will be transformed. That goes for everything in our lives. One class after another, and then you have a degree. One step after another, and you've walked off your pounds. One date after another, you've built a stronger relationship. One seed after another, and you've started a garden.

Constant, consistent action creates a way of life. It's how you move from dreaming to doing to being. We are always changing and that's a good thing. So let go of what's not aligned with where God's taking you and what he's doing in and through you. Clean house so that you can see in here clearly, especially if there's something that's there that's not supposed to be there because you deserve that peace of mind. So that's all I have for you today. If you're like me, rate and review this podcast, preferably on Apple Podcasts.

or wherever you listen. If you know someone who's like us, share this episode with them. Thank you for listening today and I hope you have a warm and wonderful week. K? Bye!