Reorganize My Clutter

I confess I am a stuffer.  I stuff things in closets, I stuff shoes in places they don’t go, I stuff things in places to put away later, I stuff my days with running from one thing to the next, I stuff my time with endless tasks, and I stuff my emotions when I don’t really want to deal with them at the moment. And I have realized, I start stuffing more material things around me when I am emotionally struggling. There’s something going on I don’t like so I don’t talk about it. There’s things in the house I don’t like so I don’t deal with them. There’s chores to do, so I just push them aside.  It’s this endless cycle of appearing to look clean when underneath the surface lies the same big old mess. And I want to be done with it. I want to stop stuffing things in that one room in my house that drives me crazy. I want to stop stuffing my emotions and letting them bottle up until I feel like I am going to explode. I want to stop stuffing my life with busyness so I can barely hang on.

So what do I do? Reorganize, take a little time each day, clean one thing at a time, and stop stuffing. Deal with things when they come up. Put thing away in the moment rather than put them in another spot to put away later. Confront issues and emotions when you have them. And follow a new set of rules. Create systems of stuff that work, not systems that need to be fixed later. But that is all just a plan.  I think part of this is a little deeper. It is my state of being. My physical surroundings start to emulate my emotional state. So I need to be vulnerable. I need to talk about my fears. I need to be real with my insecurities. I need to be okay with being me, with the mess and the clutter. But I also give myself the grace to not be perfect. To be okay to be a mess. To be okay letting people see the mess. So I am emotional, so I am a little messy, so I may not keep the perfect house, so I may have some issues… So what? People don’t care. And most importantly, my Savior accepts me just as I am. Actually, he wants me a little messy and incapable, because then I realize how big my need is for Him. So the answer? Be me. Love who God made me to be. Let people love me. And let things be sharpened and smoothed out a little bit at a time.

Along with this stuffing trend, I have a list of books about a mile long that I want to read. But I wanted to point this one out because this author/speaker can get me to a place that not many other books can. Brene’ Brown is an incredible speaker, an incredible storyteller, an incredible writer, and an incredible researcher. She encourages people to rise strong. To realize our worthiness and not get stuck. To be true to who we are and okay with who we are. And Rise Strong to fight all those things that are trying to get in the way. Her new book Rising Strong‘s mottos is here:

Amazon’s view of her book: “Walking into our stories of hurt can feel dangerous. But the process of regaining our footing in the midst of struggle is where our courage is tested and our values are forged. Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude or circumstance, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process, every day, until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives. Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are.”

I encourage you to check out her video here. Rising Strong Trailer

And buy here book from the link below! Rising Strong

So back to my stuffing.. It isn’t going to get figured out all at once. But what I do know is I can fight it a little bit every day and when I fall, get back up and Rise Strong. I need to be okay with my story. Not make up new ones. It is time to Rise Strong and live. And I think it’s time for me to pick up this book. Are you with me?