Digging in the archives ~ Don’t over think it

As I am going to be away visiting for a couple of weeks I have had to get my posts together in advance. This is not an easy task as I already have a post to write nearly every day plus my daily decluttering and then or course real life just keeps happening whether I have the time for it or not.

Therefore I decided to do a little digging in the archives to find some of my favourite blog posts and then elaborate as to how I am still feeling about what I wrote in said posts. Whether I have changed my way of thinking or if I still stand by what I thought at the time. So without further adieu here is the first of my reminiscences. This post was one in a series of 100 words or less posts I wrote back in December.

key #6 – Don’t over think it

Sometimes when we are faced with what seems like a mammoth task we tend to over think the situation. For my decluttering effort each day I just walk into a room take a look around, peek in a cupboard or too and just find something to declutter. Or I might just spy something on my daily meandering throughout the house. Over thinking can cause procrastination or worse scare you off the task altogether. If you find yourself hyperventilating at the mere thought of decluttering, STOP, and take 5 slow deep breaths clear your mind and start over the easy way.

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Now that was short but straight to the point and I still stand by everything I have to say here. Being six months on from that point in my journey I have come to a stage where I am having to face some of the more complex decluttering if you like. However, I am still finding ways to break it down into bite size chunks that aren’t likely to induce the hyperventilation I mentioned above. A perfect example of that is the task of sorting and decluttering our old photographs. When I decided it was time to take on this task I soon found myself thinking “My God where do I begin?” and “How did this get in such a mess?” and “I don’t want to deal with this, it’s too hard!” but then I shook of these thoughts and wrote a blog post about how to go about the task. This helped me see how I can deal with it one step at a time and, I am now working on the task as it suits my time frame in a relaxed fashion and I am confident I will get the job done without having a nervous breakdown in the attempt. It’s not as thought there is a deadline.

The moral of this story is that there is usually a way to break down a large task into manageable steps. Once you have worked out your strategy just tackle one step at a time and the task won’t seem quite so intimidating.

Today’s Declutter Item

I came to the conclusion that we don’t need a special bowl to eat soup out of. Any old cereal bowl will do and they stack better than this bowl does. Of to the thrift store with you.

Something to be Grateful For

All the people who have passed through our lives, whether they are still with us or not, whether they were cherished or not there are always lessons to be learned, experiences to be remembered and sometimes love gifted to us by these relationships.