If you are along for the Living Well & Spending Zero Challenge or just doing some decluttering as a reader here, or even if you’re not, what does decluttering show you?
I don’t think I was far off to assume that when I signed up for this challenge, the things I learned would be related to finances. I thought I would be refocused on intentionally spending my money without anything falling through the cracks. Perhaps I would become more refined in decided whether something was a want or a need, and maybe I would even be able to save some money, too.
However, it is so amazing how the lessons learned have been so much more than that. The lessons I’ve learned have been much deeper than that, and most have not been directly related to spending, or not spending, money at all.
I have learned that as we are deeply entrenched in the pursuit of stuff, our homes can easily become cluttered. Before too long, we absolutely must do some decluttering of some kind.
What I have also learned is that while we are deeply entrenched in the pursuit of stuff, our minds, our hearts, and our lives also become cluttered.
In stepping away from this pursuit of stuff while spending no money this month, I have realized that this, in all reality, this pursuit of stuff is really just a distraction from what really matters.
Stuff, whether it is cluttering our homes or cluttering our minds, hearts, and lives, becomes something that eventually must be dealt with. If we get over-cluttered in our minds, hearts, and lives, everything will eventually come to the surface and bubble over in a way that generally isn’t going to be good.
Clutter becomes the urgent flashing light that must be tended to whether we need to deal with physical clutter or deal with the way that satiating our desire to purchase something. For me this isn’t so much a desire to purchase something as it is the drive to find the best deals and be the most frugal shopper that I can be. But this desire, that is somehow centered on shopping or purchasing something, really does affect our lives.
Any way you look at it, careless or thoughtless spending can become a time robber while we’re not looking. In my case, thoughtful and mindful spending can also be a time robber. Through decluttering my home, and in turn decluttering my mind, heart, and life, I have found more time to spend focusing on relationships and what really matters in life.
It’s amazing how I’ve come to learn that even with the best of intentions, clutter can invade and eventually take over. For this reason, just as we need to declutter our homes on a regular basis to avoid it taking over, we need to declutter our minds, heart, and lives. When we do, we will find so much more time to focus on what really matters in our lives.
So, what does decluttering show you?
