Ep 2 - You Are Not Alone

 

We’re back for episode 2 of the Tidy Revival Podcast. This week Carly' is talking about the most common things she hears when meeting new clients or students. Overwhelm. I need you to know that you are NOT alone when it comes to feeling overwhelmed with the “stuff”

You can listen right here, on Apple Podcasts, or you can read the transcription below. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome back to the Tidy Revival podcast. I am your host, Carly Adams. Today I want to really talk about the fact that you are not alone in this. When I talk to people for the first time. When people come to me who are potential students or clients. Everyone has one thing in common. They are feeling overwhelmed.

You are not alone

A lot of times that can feel really isolating. So, I am telling you this. Everybody that I talk to when they are getting started feels this way too. And I want you to know that so that you know deep in your heart, that you are not alone in this. My clients, my Clutter-Free Home Process students, and myself… we all started in the same place.

The amount of clutter, the specific situations, the specific goal, might be different. We are all working towards the same thing, right? To simplify our processes at home, to declutter, to get organized, to have things feel easier. With that in mind, I am going to tell you about some common issues that I see all the time.

Common issues I see all the time

So, let’s talk about common issues that we see all the time. I am telling you this so that, you know, again, that it is not just you. These are things that I see all the time and, feel free to let me know if any of these resonate with you. Again, these are super, super common, but things that people feel like may be uncommon.

My favorite spaces to work through are catchalls that have turned into catch-all rooms. They are so stressful for people. When we can work through them, they end up being very emotionally rewarding.

Another thing I see all the time is people's dining, relaxing, or sleeping spaces completely disrupted by stuff. Sleeping arrangements get completely sideswiped by stuff and they end up sleeping somewhere other than their bed. So, if that has happened to you, you are not alone.

I also see laundry piles that have grown. They have morphed into laundry mountain ranges also very common.

Mail. Everyone's nemesis. Mail that has gone unopened for weeks, months, years, or even decades. I have worked through this with folks. If that is you, you are not alone.

File cabinets with papers just tossed in. There is no filing system. When you go to find something important, it means you have to dig through everything which can then make it really easy to procrastinate on that further and not create a system and the whole, thing is just frustrating. This just leads to more paper being thrown in. Having to buy items because you lost the first one somewhere in your house. You know you have it. You have no idea where it is, and it is much easier just to buy it again. So, then you end up with a bunch of duplicates.

Quick, quick story. Duplicates are so funny because sometimes you do not even realize how many there are. It is not until you group them all together that you are thinking…all right, this has gotten out of hand. When we moved from our one-bedroom apartment where two adults and one dog lived (this is like a six hundred square foot space) We found eight bottle openers. Eight. We generally did not have Guests as our place was so small. So yes, that was very, very eye-opening. This is one example of like thousands that I see all the time.

Pantries that are so frustrating because things have just kind of been shoved in. Now it is like a little wall of food where you have no idea what is in there. What is still good? It is hard to find what you need when you need it. So, when you need it, you are just going to buy more because searching the pantry is very overwhelming. That means that a bunch of the space is being taken up by God knows what and now, food is spilling out into like all of your countertops and just disrupting your space in a really big way. That can be really stressful. It is so, so common.

Last, but certainly not least…overwhelm. It is just stopping you from getting started. That is what I hear people say all the time overwhelm is stopping them from getting started. I totally get it, because it stopped me from getting started for a very long time too. That is my whole goal, right? That is like the hill that I will die on. Helping people get started and get the tools that they need to jump into it, to make it happen, to start making changes bit by bit.

This can be caused by…

Another really tough part of the process that can feel so isolating is that people say to me all the time, “I do not understand what is wrong with me” or “this is not what I want.”

This is not how I am.

I do not understand how this happened.

A lot of times when we look into it, there have been what I like to refer to as triggering events. Things like you or a family member getting sick. You need to help take care of them. Depression. Anxiety. These can definitely disrupt your regular schedule and just your way of life. The arrival of a new family member, a loss of a family member, moving, a global pandemic and spending two years at home, an extra busy season with work, or just general stress and anxiety. All of these things can contribute to your home life.

Once again…you are not alone

So once again, I want you to know that you are not alone in this. That is why I am starting this podcast. I am really looking forward to sharing stories of other folks that are going through it too. Other professionals in my industry and other industries that can help share how clutter impacts their clients. Along the way, I am going to share how it has affected me, too.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the clutter, I just want you to know that I am here for you, and I am really proud of you for taking steps toward working through the clutter.

Until next time, remember that…

 
 
 
 

Links mentioned in this episode

 
Tidy Revival Podcast, Mindset, Decluttering, OrganizationCarly AdamsTidy RevivalDecluttering, emotion, overwhelm, not alone