Cluttered
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” // Matthew 11:28-30
In the fall of last year, I think my mind was the most cluttered it's ever been. Capturing and creating wedding films, traveling across the country to produce corporate videos, settling into a new job, celebrating Jake's birthday/my birthday/our anniversary/Thanksgiving/Christmas, pursuing fertility care, and exploring fostering/adoption. I just want to cry and hug 7-months-ago me. It was too much. And although we made it through and had lots of good times along the way, there is NO WAY we could have kept that up forever.
When I worked in news, my News Director used to tell me not to try and shove 10 pounds into a five-pound bag. Keep it simple, and stick to what really matters. Well, if my brain was a five-pound bag, 7-months-ago me was trying to shove 20 pounds into it. Sorry, brain.
In December, I started to feel this overwhelming desire to purge every room in our home. I wanted every room, closet, cabinet, and drawer completely gutted and pared down to only the essentials. Only things that I loved, needed, and couldn't live without.
A few days in, I looked around (at all of my stuff in piles everywhere) and realized this was my brain crying out for help and telling me what I needed to do: cut the clutter. Mentally, emotionally, physically - in my head, heart, home, and schedule. I could almost feel the little cartoon lightbulb popping up over my head.
On a mission to create space mentally, emotionally, and physically; I continued my home purge, wrapped up all my editing, and decided to put a hold on exploring adoption. My mind felt instant relief. And we have fought really hard this year not to get back to that place of complete overwhelm. It's looked like me not taking on any more weddings and giving all I've got to my role in children's ministry at our church, picking a Sabbath day each week and truly sticking to it, and spending time at home on weekends instead of traveling all the time.
I think 2018 has been my favorite year so far. Which is kind of crazy because it's already included some pretty tough stuff. But I truly believe the lack of mental, emotional, and physical clutter is everything.
In a cluttered, messy, overwhelmed home; it's really difficult to find something you've lost. You've got to dig under and pick up and search through lots of stuff to find what you're looking for. And oftentimes, the search takes too long, and we just give up. But when our homes are picked up and put away and there's space to move and breathe, finding what you're looking for is a simple task.
Our minds - our mental homes - are the same way.
When something comes along that causes us to lose our joy, peace, hope, patience, perseverance, whatever it may be; it's really tough to find those things in a messy mind. You've got to wade through thousands of thoughts before your mind finds what you really need, and sometimes it's too exhausting to search, so we just give up looking. But when our minds have some space and order, it's easy to find what's been temporarily misplaced. Oh, here's joy right here on this shelf. Oh there's hope, sitting on the kitchen counter.
Not having to rifle through piles of laundry, shoes, papers, and pizza boxes will make finding your keys, phone, planner, water bill, remote, and favorite jacket a lot easier. And not having to rifle through 982,463,786,429 mental to-do lists will make finding joy, hope, peace, patience, love, and truth a lot easier.
I'm not saying if you have a messy house and a full schedule, you're doomed and you're doing it all wrong. Not at all. This life is meant to be lived, and our homes are meant to be lived in. Worrying about everything being perfect all the time is mental clutter you can cut right now. Say YES! to lunch dates and family vacations and volunteer opportunities and birthday dinners and those new earrings that bring you joy and painting with your kids and making messes in the mud and leaving a sink full of dishes to go to the beach! But say no to the excess, to the stuff that stresses you out and makes your mind feel like a five-pound-bag that's about to burst at the seams. Because the truth is, if you don't do some decluttering, there won't be space in your head or in your schedule for all of those wonderful things that make life so perfectly imperfect.
I believe in the power of simple, slow, and space. I don't believe in overorganized, uptight, and saying no for the sake of saying no.
Having a uncluttered home isn't about how many pantry labels you have or making it look perfect for an Insta pic. (We've all been there, right?) It's about having less, so there's less to clean up and put away; and keeping only what brings you joy, makes you feel confident, and keeps your life running smoothly.
Having an uncluttered mind isn't about saying no to everything and everyone so that you never have to worry about anything. It's about leaving room to remember a friend's birthday or take a day off and not worry that the whole world will stop spinning because you're not working. And it's about being able to quickly find the things your heart and mind desperately need when something makes you lose sight of them.
Simple, slow, and space are going to look different for everyone. We are all in different seasons and stages of life. But let's cheer each other on as we cut our clutter; knowing that easily accessible peace, joy, and hope are worth it.
Also, can we just take a second to smile about what a fun word "cluttered" is?! It's one of those words that, if you say it over and over again, you start to forget what it actually means. Ha!
