December can be a really rough month for me. I could blame social media and all the posts trying to sum up the year in one word or ten pictures, but I’ve been reflecting on the previous year… every year… long before all that stuff was around.

It’s true, it can all make you feel like a failure… the whole comparison game, but when I look back on the words I’ve written from the past, I can see every year holding both… good and bad… joy and disappointment… bravery and fear… strength and weakness… happiness and pain… wisdom and regret… give and take… and more and less…

Some years have tipped the scales to one side or another… but they were still there… both sides present throughout each year, giving me another reason to anticipate a clean slate… another beginning… and one more chance to live the life that’s closer to the one I’ve dreamed of.

For years I searched for what I was missing… the “magic key” that would finally unlock the door to that one thing I didn’t already have that would end my struggle, make my life better, give me more time, budget my money, organize my home, help me create fabulous meals, get my house clean, be a great mom, raise better kids, stay focused, look younger, lose weight, and have a better marriage.

But somewhere between good intentions and reality, something has always gone wrong; the plan failed… the schedule changed… my will died… I had a bad day and before I knew it, my dreams wound up looking more like nightmares, and I found myself fighting to make it through just one more day.

You will never be satisfied when your heart, mind, and soul are still hungry.

For so many years, I invested, acquired, stuffed, crammed, and squeezed more into my life just looking for that one thing that would change it all… but at the end of each day, I was still unhappy… and every morning I would wake up still craving something more.

It can be so easy to lie to ourselves, can’t it? To justify the reason behind our bad choices… blame someone else for our pain… excuse the mess, the anger, the pain, the guilt because we’ve convinced ourselves it’s not that bad.

God, help me for ALL the times I’ve been such a fool and allowed MY heart to dictate my next step.

• “I couldn’t possibly get rid of that…”
• “But that person hurt me so deeply…”
• “I’d rather just forget about it…”
• “If I ignore it, it’s easier to get through each day…”
• “He should apologize first…”
• “I will never be able to do it…”
• “I can’t imagine life without that…”

as if our next breath depended on it.

WHY do we hold onto all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that keep us from the better life we’re dreaming of? Why do we choose to fill up with things that cause us so much pain? Why do we allow the very things that are killing us,continue to live inside our heart, mind,and soul? And what if instead trying to fill our lives, schedules, minds, wallets, and mouths so full… we started clearing it out?

What if having less could actually give us more? What if what we THINK we should have, has kept us from what we’ve needed all along? What if we’ve been busy trying to FILL parts of our life that really just need to be EMPTY? What if the things we’ve been holding onto have LITERALLY been holding us back?

Maybe we’ve been focusing on the wrong stuff… maybe the bigger struggle isn’t really with the stuff we see (in our home AND on our hips), but the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs behind why we have that stuff and extra weight in the first place. Internal clutter may not be as obvious for everyone to see, but it’s just as damaging, overwhelming, and consuming as any external clutter we carry.

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” Isaiah 43:19

People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. Proverbs 21:2

The hard truth is… the clutter we can see is only a part of something bigger… deeper… and more raw, and until the clutter in our heart, mind, and soul is dealt with… we will never truly be free.

another year, a different way

You can’t keep doing the same thing you’ve been doing and expect a different result. So, if you want to have a better year (no matter what month it is)… you need to do something different.

What better time to give attention to what matters most, instead of what is most demanding your attention?

What better time to create spaces in your life to fill with laughter and peace and remove all the clutter that’s sapped the life out of you?

What better time to live a life that reflects who you really are?!

Regardless of what your life looks like today, YOU CAN start doing something different… you just have take the first step! If you’re tired of getting the same old thing day after day (and year after year), then stop settling for the same old thing…

Get to the root of the clutter that’s been holding YOU back and start living a life with less stress and more meaning! What better time than NOW?

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challenge:

Take the first step toward Another Year A Different Way and journal your journey as you to get to the root of your struggle with the clutter in your home, mind, heart, body, and soul.

YOUR NEXT STEP… When The Chains of Clutter Choke Out Your Life