We have spoken previously about life’s ‘curve balls’ and today I will share learnings from one of my own. By definition, such ‘unforeseen’ circumstances demand that you make decisions without being sure of the ‘right’ step or even the ‘first’ step – inaction is not an option.
My physical home environment was proving to be toxic for my health and necessitated a ‘Eco-mould’ treatment of my entire apartment. All my possessions had to be removed , reviewed and cleaned. This process actually made me reassess more than the ‘stuff’ I had in my home – it evoked a review at deeper levels of what was truly important.
Letting go of the attachment to those things we hold onto ‘just in case made me question:
“What do I really need?”
I am not a hoarder by any means (with the exception of books), but the process of ‘de-cluttering’ made me truly assess what was essential and shifted the question to not just:
“What can I let go of?” but to “What do I need to let go of?”
Deep questioning and a bit of tough discernment allowed me to separate between what was no longer serving me in who I am now, what is important to me and what enables me to perform at my highest level of serving others to stand tall in who they be and the transitions they are encountering.
In any transition, it is important to realise that to change one needs to let go.
At first it might be something small – something physical, something mental, something emotional or even something spiritual.
The clearing and de-cluttering certainly enabled me to see more clearly. As an example, even releasing some much loved books (due to mould) has opened up more space for new thinking, new ways of knowing.
There will be new books, more aligned to where I am focusing my attention now.
‘If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.” Mo Willems
De-cluttering in action
I had the pleasure of working with a highly creative, intelligent and compassionate young 28-year-old web designer who was heading to Tokyo for 3 years to work for a leading edge global company. His capacity to see the future of IT and its possibilities was so inspiring – his clarity came from his creative use of space, evident in his personal space – no clutter. He sees Japan as at the ‘leading edge in this IT space’, he loves the culture, and wants to be a collaborative contributor.
His clarity corroborated with my experience that releasing the clutter, or the ‘old’ patterns has enabled me to see how ‘holding on just in case’ immobilises you.
This galvanised my resolve in de-cluttering – if it no longer served me, out it went, to someone who could make use of it, or was in greater need.
Sometimes it is a ‘pivot’ that is needed to move us from the old story to the new story.
It must be noted that it takes courage to do this with one’s patterns, but the resulting benefit of having a narrative that is more truly aligned to who we truly are far outweighs the other alternative – being stuck or immobilised.
Leaders are often asked to make decisions quickly and balancing the short-term with the long-term often creates tension. A rethink is often useful.
What is truly important? What is my narrative and would a detox serve me?
It does come down to wise choosing.
As a colleague of mine said, sometimes too much choice makes you inert. De-cluttering allows you to remove the ‘noise’ in your life to better hear your inner ‘now’.
This can be:
physical – stuff we have;
mental – thoughts that are restricting us from being truly who we are;
emotional – beliefs that are no longer serving us;
spiritual – not taking the time to connect.
It takes courage to trust you know. It is a bold move to walk your “truth”.
You don’t always need to have the answer as to why, but you do need to be grounded in who you are.
I can help you take that first step, get grounded, build a strong base and a narrative that serves you.
Anna
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