Decluttering – One Step Forward Five Steps Back

I'm still with you; but I'm really discouraged.  My dear husband and I embarked on a whole house declutter at the same time as I set out on my multi-purpose (MP) office/craft/sewing room declutter.  We agreed to spend one hour a day together decluttering "somewhere" in the apartment.  He would do the heavy lifting, I would do a quick sort and make the quick keep, toss, donate decisions; then, for the more complicated boxes, I would bring them into the MP room to work on papers and personal clutter until a decision was made.

 

This process usually meant six to eight more hours of work every day for me than for him; but I didn't mind.  I was able to clear some of the clutter in the shared areas of the apartment and make progress on clearing the clutter in the MP room.  I had even cleared enough flat space that I could craft or sew if I had the notion.

 

Last week we got the entryway closet cleared out and made significant progress getting things off to Goodwill and to the trash.  Monday and Tuesday, we did the same in the kitchen.  But, today, we worked on the central hall closet (right across from my multi-purpose room).  DH wanted to empty everything from the closet directly into the MP room and empty the boxes in here.  What a mess.

 

I felt violated, overwhelmed, crowded and rushed.  When we were done and he left (after the hour or so of working together) the mess remained and my space looked and felt worse than it did before we got started and I am feeling so discouraged.  All of my flat spaces are cluttered again.

 

Many of the items from the central closet have deep and troubling memories for me to dig through before I can let go of them.  And, then there's my wedding dress.  I don't have a dream of ever fitting into it again; but it is sitting here, staring at me (with about a million other memories from the last 55 years or so) and I am on the verge of tears.  I'm not giving up.  But I'm NOT doing anything else today.  I'm all out of energy.  I've been up since 2:30am.  I need a nap.  I'm going to bed!

 

Dear Lord, please help me get some rest tonight.  Two nights of poor sleep and too many memories to shake a stick at have made me weak and weepy.  I need your strength and courage if I am going to get through this.

 

Thank you!

 

Mary  ;-)