159// Clearing Clutter, Self Care and Empowering Our Self Worth

Here's something a little different. Take a listen to a webinar I ran and condensed into an episode. These are some of my favourite topics; self worth, clutter and taking care of ourselves.

Enjoy an actionable episode (minus the meditation and visualization) that you can use to push you into action. So much of clutter is internal work, I hope you find this powerful workshop helpful and insightful.

Episode #68 with Meadow Devor

Episode #63 with Alejandra G Brady

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:05

Do you feel overwhelmed by clutter when you walk through the door? Are you tired all the time and stuck just getting by? With each day being a carbon copy of the next and no time or space for yourself? Hi, I'm Sarah, and I was you, so I understand. You're a busy mom, whether at home or working full-time, feeling like you're in survival mode. There isn't time for more because you're just putting out fires, overwhelmed by all the stuff, and aching for something more. That's what the Simple Intentional Podcast is here for. To support you. Whether it's to clear clutter, ditch the overwhelm, and create easy simplicity. Figure out how to be more intentional in your life, or inspire you into action. Each week I'll share things like practical and actionable tips you can start using. To start living more intentionally and create your life, as well as interviews with people that will inspire and educate you. I'm a full-time working mom, wife, and lover of all things difficult. After stage four cancer diagnosis in 2014, I started on a path to change how to live. And I'm sharing with you everything that has helped me move from stressed out, people-pleasing perfectionists to calm, in control, and feeling like the best version of myself. So grab your earbuds, a cup of tea, and join me to start making powerful shifts in your life today. This is about so much more than stuff. So during that time that I was off work, I was quite ill. I had a lot of time on my hands. And so I did a lot of reading, a lot of TED talks, and a lot of just time sitting and reflecting. And it was during that time that I picked up the book by the minimalists, Everything That Remains. And I was just really hooked. You know, I really loved what they had to say. And, you know, that really sort of took me into my minimalism journey. Um, and I did one of their decluttering challenges, and it really started to get me to think about stuff. But not only stuff, it got me thinking about myself and um, you know, my perfectionism and my people pleasing and these things that I had always thought of as really good qualities. You know, I was really detail-oriented and I was really nice. Um, but what I came to discover was that actually these were impacting me um really negatively. That was sort of the beginning for me. And then I became a mother. And for those of you who are moms out there, I'm sure you know that that just added another layer to life that made things busier and um harder in a lot of ways, like wonderful, but you know, harder because I think as women, we take on a lot, we deal with a lot of the stuff. So it just helped me dig even deeper and get really clear on what mattered to me and to start to say, like, hey, you know what, this stuff is really standing in the way of me having um peace and time for myself. You know, I work a full-time job, coming home and just dealing with all the stuff. So that was really the big push that got me to really deeply declutter and to start to get really good at making decisions and prioritizing and knowing what matters most to me. So, in that time, you know, post that I started simple and intentional, first as a blog, because suddenly I had all this time and I was excited about um writing again because I love writing and you know, that I had gained so much from this and I wanted to share it with other women because wow, like this changed my life. And I could see that, you know, if we can all get on board with this, you know, we can um we can really make a big difference in our lives because um, you know, I never knew about being intentional and I didn't really recognize how much power and control I had to shape my own life. And, you know, it began with simplifying, but then I can see from there those subsequent decisions that we make. Um, you know, the little ones and the big ones, they do add up to how we really spend our days. So I wanted to share that with um women. Today I'm gonna discuss clearing clutter and self-care and empowering our self-worth. The further I go along this journey, the more that I am certain that clutter at its root is tied to our self-worth. And it's taken me years to really make this connection. In fact, almost 10 of my minimalism journey. But um that I've made it, I can see that it's a really necessary one to make um really truly sustainable change that sticks when we can really understand our relationship with stuff, other people, our busyness, productivity, um, and how we live our lives. So this isn't just about stuff, but I think that clutter often is like a real physical manifestation of what can be inside our internal world and um what we think and feel about ourselves. So I want to get clear about what self-worth is, um, because I think there's a lot of different words that we can kind of blend together and think they have the same meaning, like self-esteem or self-confidence. But um, self-worth is different. And it it gets easily confused with those other terms, but um it is different. Self-worth is an internal belief that you are good enough and that you deserve love and respect from others and yourself. Um, it's something that's stable, like it doesn't fluctuate when things happen outside of us. It's constant and it comes from knowing and believing in your value as a person. Whereas self-esteem, for example, can be dependent on external factors like achievements and successes, um, your mood, you know, um approval from other people, those kinds of things can um affect your self-esteem. And similarly, with self-confidence, it can be really high in certain areas. Like you might be really good at um, you know, speaking in front of other people, but you might have low self-confidence when it comes to organizing your home or sports or um socializing. So we all have strengths and we often have high self-confidence in the areas that are strong for us and um you know lower self-confidence in other areas. But our self-worth doesn't get dictated by those things. That's something that we have inside of us and that we believe we're worthy. So um I hope you can see the distinction there. And now we want to think a little bit about because I know when I heard this, you know, it seems so heavy, like, oh, to think I have low self-worth. But um I don't necessarily think that it's about having overall low self-worth. It's more about not always valuing ourselves and that the ways that this shows up can be kind of sneaky. Like we don't always really see um our self-worth. Like we might think, oh, I have high self-worth, I really care about myself. But then, you know, when you start to look around your home and for instance, and you see clutter everywhere, well, that's kind of a representation of like what you're allowing um yourself to live in and how you're allowing yourself to experience life. So um it does actually tie really deeply to self-worth. You know, I don't want you to think, I I guess because it's just such a heavy word, but but you know, stick with me on this because it it really is um quite life-changing when you can kind of start to make these connections and see how it shows up in your life. Um, I think this is probably something all of us really need to work on. How do you know? Let's go through some questions together. And this is where it's a great time to grab your notebook. And I'm gonna go slowly through this so that you have the time to actually respond to some of these questions and think about these things so that you get a chance to do the work in here. So remembering that worth is a belief, that it's not a thought. What words would you use to describe yourself? Um, I think about this sometimes, you know, when you get asked by somebody, oh, what do you do? or you're introduced to somebody, what do you say about yourself? Or, you know, think about like what do you not say about yourself, or how do you change the wording of things to make yourself appear a certain way? I think that we all do this in in certain circumstances, depending on who's asking. You know, when you have those thoughts inside your mind about yourself, how do you describe yourself? Do you think positive things about yourself? Do you think negative things? And, you know, what qualities do you place the most value on? Um, because that's another thing, like our values and where they come from, like often, you know, from our childhood or how we've grown up, what we think is valuable can sometimes be misplaced with what how we actually want to be living. So where are you putting value? Um, do you see it in, you know, how much you achieve or like accolades you receive? Do you see it in how you feel or how you spend your time or what other people say about you or think about you? So think about what it is that you value. Where do you sort of, like I said before, what do you sort of adjust when you're describing yourself? Where do you feel shameful? Um, what do you not feel the most proud of that you don't necessarily want to share with people? And where do you find yourself comparing yourself to other people? And you know, social media is really great for that. Um, you know, it's a great source of inspiration and motivation, and there's so much learning to be had. However, it's also a place that we can get really caught in comparing ourselves to other people and feeling bad about ourselves. Where do you find yourself comparing yourself to other people? And when are you most critical about yourself? Where do you think the most negative thoughts? Like, does this come up in your parenting or in your work? Does it come up in your household and how you feel about how your house appears or feels? Um, you know, so think about the areas where you feel really good and the ones that you don't and what some of those thoughts are that come up. And you know, do you this is sort of a deeper question, but do you feel like you can be your true self? Um are there places and people that you feel you can be your true self with or in? Or do you hide a lot of yourself? And this is gonna tie into an exercise we're gonna do later, but I think these questions um are really important to reflect on and to take the time to respond to. And you know, just taking a few minutes right now, you might have some initial answers that you know right away, um, what's hard for you or the negative things you think about yourself. For some of you, it might take a little bit more time to sort of unpack and think about, um, or even just carry some of these questions around with you this week. Like, where do I notice myself doing that? Where do I notice myself thinking those negative thoughts? Um, where do I notice myself, you know, sort of braiding myself or being hard on myself? And just think about what they are, and you can even jot them down. You don't have to be a journaler either. I think that sometimes that idea of journaling kind of puts people off, but there's a lot of power in writing things down, and it doesn't have to be a big thing. Even if you spent two, three, four minutes just writing down some of your thoughts. Um, when you look back on them, you might be surprised what comes up. But also, I think that it's a really powerful way of processing and recognizing things. So you might write something down and then later in the week, you might have a thought that crops up and you're like, oh yeah. So it sort of helps you um connect to these ideas. And when we can connect more to them and we can have an awareness, that's where we can start to do things differently. So it might seem overly simplistic, but I really find that this is sort of where the big changes in life happen. You know, we start to recognize something, we become aware, we start to carry it around with us in our thoughts. So we're more and more aware, and it just becomes part of how we think. And that's then influencing how we behave. Um you might get a sense from these, whether or not you have lower or higher self-worth. You might see an area that you have low self-worth in. Um, and just don't judge yourself or be be overly critical at all, but just think about what you notice. Um, you know, some of us have a really hard time accepting compliments or noticing the positive qualities about ourselves. And we can get really focused on our mistakes or compare ourselves to others a lot. And I think our home can be a mirror of that. Again, it's a really um straightforward way to compare yourself, especially, you know, you go on Instagram and you scroll through and you see people's beautiful homes, and then you look at your own and you think, what's wrong with me? Why can't I do that or why can't I keep it together? Um, but there's a lot of factors that go into why we end up with clutter, why it's hard to maintain our homes, you know, just beginning to have the awareness and recognizing that how you feel and believe about yourself can reflect and does reflect in your external environment. And that when you can make that connection and start to make changes to your external environment, you know, it will um have a ripple effect. So hopefully you've had a chance to respond to some of these, just sort of hold on to those. And now let's go think about our clutter. So if you found me and you follow me or you listen to my podcast, you probably already know some of the negatives about clutter. Or maybe you're experiencing them and that's why you signed up for this webinar. Um, but we're just gonna review like the impact of clutter and some of the negatives about it, just to give ourselves a good clear sense of why having a cluttered cluttered environment impacts us and our lives so negatively, and then help create some context so that, you know, right in front of us, we're thinking, okay, I think it's easy to think of our clutter as being something benign. Um, but I just want you to recognize that it's not and that it matters and that you deserve to be living in an environment that is tidy, well taken care of. You know, we're not aiming for perfection here, um, but that, you know, we're taking care of ourselves and the space that we're living in. So, number one, um, it increases our stress and anxiety, and it impact impacts our mental health. So, you know, as women, we are juggling a lot on a daily basis. The research that's come out about how much of the mental load women are carrying. And on average, it's 78 to 80 percent of the mental load women are carrying in their households. So that's a lot. That's pretty much all of it. And um, you know, partners are, you know, generally doing like yard work and handy projects around the house, but on the the regular, when it comes to, you know, taking care of kids, chores, maintaining everything, knowing what everybody needs, we are carrying a lot of it. And there's another study that also shows that for women specifically, living in a cluttered environment spikes our cortisol. So it increases our stress. And we know that that has an impact on our mental health and our physical health. So just that alone, like we want to be living in an environment that feels peaceful and calm and doesn't put us into a stressful state. Um, you know, especially when we're dealing with so much, you know, so much responsibility. And the clutter is just really a visual representation of our cluttered mind. And it can just compound those feelings when we feel depressed or anxious or stressed. Um, you know, just looking around just impacts that even further. It um makes it difficult to focus and be productive. It also lowers our energy and our motivation. Um, clutter really is a constant distraction. It makes it harder to focus on what you're trying to do. Um, I saw this great Instagram reel a couple years ago, and um it was a woman who like was trying to work out, you know, she had her workout clothes on, she was trying to find her shoes, but her house was really cluttered. And then as she was moving around the house trying to find her shoes, you know, she noticed, oh, the dishwasher needs to be emptied. Oh, um, so-and-so needs new water bottle. And then as she went to find her shoes, she's like, oh yeah, they need the next size of shoes. And oh, nobody's made the bed. And I really found that to be a really great example of I know my experience, but I think lots of other women resonate with that as well. Like we walk around our homes and when things are cluttered and untidy, it's like a to-do list. It's like, here's all the jobs that we need to do. And it makes it really hard to stay focused. You know, suddenly trying to find your shoes so that you can do a workout turns into like a 20-minute thing where you've gotten derailed a whole bunch of times and then you start your workout late. And these are the things that sort of compound why it's hard for us to have self-care and you know, focus on ourselves because we get distracted and then we're thinking about other people, and it's you know, it's a lot to carry around. So, um, and then it weighs on us, right? Like then you're not as motivated because then you're thinking about all the things that you have to do. So we want to have a tidy environment so that we can focus on what matters um and not just like being like a ping pong ball bouncing around from one thing to the other. And that's I know, you know, if I have a busy week and things get crazy, like that's how I start to feel. Um, and I know a lot of other women have have said that to me as well. Like it really is just like bouncing from thing to thing to thing, and it's really hard to stay focused. So we want to simplify our space so that we can, you know, stay focused on on what matters. When we live in a cluttered environment, it can make us feel guilt or shame or like a loss of control. You know, like we feel bad. What's wrong with us? Why can't we keep this home tidy? Why is it that why is it that there's stuff everywhere? Why can't I, you know, take care of my home properly? Um, you know, my life is totally out of control. And oftentimes what happens too is that then actually you're spending so much of your act your time and your energy on trying to keep your home in check that you miss out on that time and energy for other things. So again, like I mean, really back to the lower, like um it affecting our focus, but it's also like just draining, it impacts our self-esteem. Um, so you know, nobody nobody wants to feel like that. So when we can make these connections about what like the impact that clutter has on us, um, it makes it more motivating to do something about it. Because we don't want to live our lives this way. You don't want to live your life just picking things up all the time and feeling stressed and feeling like you're never on top of anything. You know, and like I mentioned before, I think it also um it really impacts our self-care because we can't unwind. When you look around your home and there's stuff everywhere, like I said, it's a it's a visual to-do list. Here's all the things that I didn't get to, here's all the things that I'm not on top of. And you can't relax. Um, you know, there's no sitting down and feeling at peace because you're, you know, still wound up with all that cortisol. And like I mentioned, there's so many ways that it impacts our self care. Again, like walking around and getting distracted by a whole bunch of stuff eats up your time. And then suddenly that 20 minute workout you were going to do was lost in 20 minutes of like minor chores. So we need to build an environment that takes. Care of us and supports how we want to live and supports our peace and our mental health. Um, and again, sort of number five really ties into all of this. Like, you know, being in a cluttered environment does affect our self-esteem because we're not living up to those expectations we have of ourselves. We're, you know, this isn't how we thought life was going to be. Is this how I want to live? Why can't I stay on top of all of this stuff? You know, these are kind of the thoughts. And what it often reflects is an inner state of neglect. If you're allowing your environment to get messy and disorganized, that can be a signal to ourselves that we aren't prioritizing our well-being and our self-care either. And, you know, for some of us, that's linked to feelings of not deserving clean and organized space. Um, it can be just that mirror of how we feel about ourselves and that we're just not taking care of ourselves and we're neglecting those things that support our self-worth. So I just really want to hit it home that our environment matters, not just because it's nice having a tidy home, but it's an indication of your self-respect and how you feel about yourself. What I'd like to do now is a little bit of a reflection and a visualization. And again, I'd like to do this within this um webinar so that you have the space. So grab your notebook again. Um, we're going to do a bit of reflection on these questions for a few minutes, and then we'll do a guided meditation and visualization because I want you to have the time to make these connections. And even if you walk away with one thing today that changes the way that you think, then um, you know, you've really gained something that is going to impact the way that you start to move through your days and how you look at your home and how you care for your home. So just grab your notebook and think about your living space as it is now. How do you feel? Do you feel calm, stressed? Do you feel inspired by your space or overwhelmed? And why? What is it about your space that leads to um, you know, supportive emotions, things that um can help us live the way that we want to and in an intentional way? Or what is it that impacts us negatively, you know, if you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed? What is it about your space? And this could be one room in your home. Maybe there's just like one space you just can't get right and it's just overwhelming you. Or maybe it's certain areas like your entryway or your kitchen, you know, these high traffic places that we use a lot. Or maybe it's, you know, an overall sense of your home. Um, when you walk around, that there's just something to do everywhere you go. So just think about that for a minute and write down what you notice about your space as it is now. And now I want you to think about how does clutter show up in your life outside of your physical space? So this can be mental clutter, like, are you feeling on a regular basis? Um, a lack of clarity, you know, um, that you're just sort of spinning your wheels, that you're always busy and you're not really having time or space for yourself? Um, is it emotional baggage? Like, are there relationships that are challenging in your life and maybe not supportive? Is it you know, that mental load, like that ongoing to-do list? And so recognizing you don't have to have solutions for any of this. This is just noticing what is going on in your life, where are there tension points, where is there friction, where are things not feeling supportive, and just recognizing that because the physical clutter can be pretty straightforward. Um, but like I said, it's often, if not always, a representation of what's going on internally. So what's going on inside that's leading to the clutter? And number three, what areas of your life do you feel the most disorganized? So maybe you're always late, you're always running late, and you just can't get places on time. Maybe it has to do with your kids. Is it staying on top of homework and school routines? Is it household stuff like staying on top of taking care of your home in the bigger sense, not just like the daily chores? Maybe it is relationships. And then I want you to think about how do you think that this impacts your self-worth and your confidence? You know, I I know that being on time for things is a big one for a lot of people. You know, how how does being on time or not being on time make you feel? What do you think it says about you? You know, how what are the thoughts that go through your mind when you're rushing to get somewhere yet again? You know, this is just a common one, but the it is the little things that we're trying to notice. And these are great places for us to start to take action and create change and where they have a ripple effect. But we'll get into that a little bit later. And can you think of an item or an area that you've been holding on to but no longer serves you? So, what is your emotional attachment to it? And what do you think that that could symbolize for you? This could be a relationship. This could be, you know, um, for a lot of us who've experienced grief. This can be belongings that have to do with the the person who owned them. You know, sometimes creating change means moving on from something we're not ready to move on from. And it can be hard to leave things behind. So just really thinking about what are you holding on to? And maybe if you can't get that far, maybe it's hard to make that connection right now, but that's okay. If you can just recognize some of the places in your life where things aren't working, it's cluttered, it's there's lots of friction or stress, and it's just not working, that's a great place to start. And that getting to a question like this and understanding why you're holding on to something, it's okay to not know that yet. What I'd like to do um before we end today is to just to take some time to talk about some strategies for decluttering and creating an action plan. So you may be familiar with um with some of these strategies. Um, I like to share things that are simple and that focus on just small, consistent action and are really concrete. And I think that these are um great strategies that I find super helpful. Um, most women find super helpful, especially the first one, setting a timer. Um, I know this might seem kind of silly and we don't often take the time to do it, but um it's a great one for when you don't feel like decluttering, when you're feeling overwhelmed, or when you're short on time. Um, because we can often inflate in our mind how long something's gonna take or, you know, push off starting something. But you know, even if you set a timer for five minutes and take a little bit of action, um, and then you can just stop wherever you are when the timer ends. But it's a really great one for getting rid of stuff, you know, just even clearing the table. And often what we think is gonna take five minutes might take two. So, you know, or what we think is gonna take half an hour might take 10 minutes. So it's a really great way to actually have a sense of how long things take too. When you set the timer over and over again, you can see, wow, I thought that was gonna take me so long. It actually only took me a few minutes. So it starts to sort of reinforce that you can create a lot of change in a little bit of time. Um, another one is just to focus on one area at a time and then just focus on being consistent. So maybe you pick a drawer or a tabletop or just your socks or adjust your shoes and just create a boundary so that you're not getting overwhelmed on what you'll do, and then just stay consistent. Like, you know, every other day I'm gonna clear a drawer or um every day I'm gonna spend 10 minutes decluttering. Another one is the one in, one out. This works really well for some people, it doesn't for others. You know, the great thing about having lots of strategies is that you can find the things that work for you. Um, some people, this is just like so black and white, it works really well for them. If it brings something in, then something's gonna leave. Um, and then having a box on the go. Having somewhere that things can land might seem simple and silly, but honestly, it's a huge help in just reducing friction and um not creating clutter elsewhere. Because if you don't have a place to put your donations, then you know you're often just creating another pile of stuff that you have something to do with it. So uh, or you have you know something else to do. So just you know, giving yourself that space ahead of time. Um, some mental clutter strategies. Um, because this is, you know, again, we're all really busy women and we've got a lot going up on in our minds. So, you know, journaling, brain dumps, just writing everything down that's in your head. Um, and just it'll allows us really to release a lot and just get it out of our heads and um just lighten that load. It's a simple thing. Um, it doesn't need to take a lot of time again. I know that sometimes the barrier to these things is us thinking, oh my goodness, I have to spend so long doing this. Like I need to journal every single morning for 20 minutes. No, you don't. You know, you can journal for two minutes, you can journal for five minutes, you can do it once a week. It's up to you. So, journaling is a really, really effective way to get a lot out of our heads. Um, again, stillness and meditation doesn't need to be a lot of time. I really push everybody I work with to do this. You know, just spending a few minutes in stillness. There are so many guided meditations out there. You know, there's apps, there's stuff on YouTube, um, even just closing your eyes and setting in timer and sitting still for a few minutes. There's no doing this wrong. And, you know, one thing I like to say to people is don't worry about clearing your mind because that's not actually the goal of meditation. I know that that's sort of something that a lot of us think about meditation, but your mind is never going to stop thinking. And through practice, you come to stillness and you can slow those thoughts and you can not attach to them. You can see them go by and not have them impact you the same way. But just grounding yourself and then making decisions from a place like that. If you're somebody who struggles with buying lots of stuff, you know, close your phone, shut your laptop before you click buy, just take a few minutes with your eyes closed in stillness and really settle into your body and think, what am I feeling right now? Am I bored? Am I stressed? What is chasing this purchase? And then reframing your thoughts, you know, or limiting beliefs that we we all have. Um, and think things like, I'm worthy of a clean and peaceful space that supports my well-being. I'm capable of letting go of what no longer serves me. Decluttering is an act of self-care and self-respect. And that, you know, you're enough just as you are. So replacing what you think already with something that's more supportive. And now I want you to think about what one small action you can do this week is. What will tackle your clutter? And if you can, tie it to self-worth. I know for a lot of women, our closet is a really great place to start when it comes to this. Um, but there could be other areas of your life that are more clear to you. It's also okay if you are having a hard time making that connection. And you just walk away from here with the lens of I'm gonna look at things around my home and think about how this ties to self-worth. What does this say about me? What does this say about how I feel about myself? So make your action small, clear, and easy to remember. And that's like you know, that you can carry it around in your head and think, okay, this week I'm gonna focus on my kitchen. I'm going to clear a drawer every day. I'm gonna clear one drawer this week, I'm going to tackle all my utensils, I'm gonna look at my small appliances, whatever it is, if you can be specific and make it small and super clear. Or maybe you just say to yourself, I'm gonna commit to clearing one thing every day one item in my house. That's it. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, there's so many ways that marketing um really impacts our our behavior. And yeah, just even setting a clear boundary like that. Like I'm not going to um, like Raquel's saying that um their extended families decided to have a year of no purchases, only essential items. And so, you know, I think that boundaries like that can work really, really well for people because it's so clear. And it doesn't need to be that extreme for everybody, like that feels really good for some people, but for other people, could say, okay, I'm not gonna buy any more beauty products until I use what I have, or I'm not gonna buy any more shoes, or whatever it is, you can sort of categorize it when you notice like this is something I do a lot. I'm gonna try not to do this and recognize that we're gonna make mistakes along the way, and that is okay, and that's part of how we change. There's no black and white here. You know, as long as you're noticing, you're building self-awareness and you're trying your best, that's what you can ask of yourself. Because the goal here is to create an environment that supports you and that's you know is reflective of how you feel about yourself. And so you just working on making it better is, you know, a really incredible thing. Um, so you know, self-worth is really built through action as well. It's like teaching yourself that you believe you're worthy. So you can do this in small ways. Um, you know, when you start to um when you start to do something that you have like routinely done that is not supportive of self-worth, like let's say you go to the dollar store and you start to buy a bunch of stuff. Instead, it's saying, okay, hold on, I'm gonna stop here. I'm gonna walk out of the store and I'm gonna think about this first. Those small actions are the things that change how we live. You just have to do that one thing in that one moment. You don't have to look at the big picture. It's like, what can I do in this one moment? It's, you know, recognizing that our environments deserve to be beautiful and functional. And that's beautiful on our terms, you know. Maybe you can start with the goal of creating yourself like a little reading nook or a calm corner. Maybe it's about decluttering your bedroom so that you have a space to unwind and relax. So think about what your goal would be. What do you want overall? And then what is one small thing you can start doing? So finally, I'll say if you're stuck on what it is that you want to do or where you want to start, I'm gonna give you one. And this is um sort of a culmination um from Alejandra Brady, who um she was on my podcast. You can go and listen to that episode if you're interested, who is a feng shui practitioner, and um Meadow DeVore, who is a personal development teacher who focuses on self-worth. And she was also on my podcast if you want to listen to that episode as well. But um, or you can just take from this this simple exercise, which is basically a culmination of both of their work. And it's a great starting point when we want to start recognizing our beliefs about ourselves. Um, the front door is sort of this space between public and private. So it's an interesting place to reflect upon and to notice what's happening around your front door. Um, in feng shui, the front door of our homes is the mouth of qi. So this is where energy enters our home. And taking the time to set up an entryway can allow fresh energy and abundance into your home. That's the belief in feng shui. It's also representative of our voice and our communication, which when we move to Meadows Meadows exercise, I think it's a really interesting connection because what Meadow asks you to do is to take a picture of your front door exactly as it is. Don't change anything, and then study the picture for clues. Where are you disregarding your true self? And so true self is who you really are, where you're not pretending to be anybody else, you're not putting on, you know, the people pleasing or the perfectionism or any of that stuff, but you're just you as you are. Um, so some examples are maybe your front door looks picture perfect. It's beautiful, but it's not actually representative of what you like. And maybe it's what you think it should look like or what other people will like. Um, it could be a total mess, could just be totally not taken care of at all. Um, and just you know, shoes everywhere, mud, disorganization, a total mess. Or maybe there's no part of you present at all. One example she gave in her book was of a woman who lived in the home and you know, her husband's name was by the door, but not hers. So think about your front door, just take that picture and then look at it. What shows up, and then ask yourself, what do you love? How do you want to be seen? And what do you desire? And then what small changes can you make that are going to start to show self-respect and care for yourself? It could just even be as simple as just tidying up your front entryway or your front door, you know, sweeping, um, cleaning the door. Maybe you have a wreath on your door you don't like. You could switch it for something that you actually love. So, you know, if you don't know where to start this week, I would suggest starting here and just using this as a lens for self-worth, how you feel about yourself, and just noticing and just practicing the noticing. And then in the end, you can take a picture of what you've done and reflect on it. Think about what was the process like, what did you discover about yourself, and what did you change? Um, so this can be a really great starting point. And I just want to leave you with clearing clutter is not just about tidying up your space. It is really a powerful act of self-respect. And when you declutter, you take control of your environment, which in turn allows you to take control of how you feel about yourself and your life. It's really an opportunity where you get to prioritize what you know matters most to you, let go of things, let go of old beliefs, things that no longer serve you, and to make space for the life you truly, truly want to live. And I mean, I can't stress this enough. I know um many of you who follow me or listen to my podcast know that I lost my mom this year. Um, and that really has been just another moment in my life that has allowed me to realize like, we get one life, and you really want to be living your life the way you want to be living. And so help create your space to support that. And so that you can feel good and you can feel proud of yourself, and you can find, you know, a restorative space in your home. Um, so just really think about that. I know it's sort of a heavy thought, but it's a real one, and that by creating a space that's clean and organized and intentional, you send yourself a message that you are worthy of peace, order, and clarity. And you can prove to yourself that you deserve this supportive environment that nurtures your well-being and allows you to thrive. So the process, you know, of really building self-worth can help you create a more intentional, joyful, and empowered life. So thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much for being here and um for taking the time to listen and to learn. And I hope that you have gained something that is going to help you go into this week with just a different way of looking at things and um and has helped you to think about your stuff a little bit differently. And if you liked today's episode and found it helpful, I'd be so grateful if you would write a review. If you do, your day will be entered for this month's giveaway. You can also share with another mom who would be helped by listening. And be sure to follow me on Instagram at SimpleInten. Thanks for listening.