"You're probably going to cry today."

I am a Professional Organizer and people call me to make a difference in their spaces, and by result, their lives. This often means making tons of decisions, a lot of which are difficult, in a short amount of time.

The process of decluttering, downsizing, organizing, and moving can make you feel a little out of control. I recently moved myself, and struggled to remind myself of this while prepping.

I also tell clients, "What you are doing today may be difficult. I'm here to help guide you, but you will be making most of the decisions. Making so many decisions can be very stressful and you need to give yourself a break to move forward with peace and grace. Or we won't be able to get through all of this."

I went into my packing process enthusiastically thinking, "Oh, I'll get rid of a whole bunch of stuff we aren't using!" But there's a reason I kept those things the last time we moved. It was because I might need them, SOMEDAY. Well guess what, "Later" and "Someday" are not days of the week! And if you haven't used it in a year (or more), there is a good chance you won't in the future either.

I keep trying to remind myself this as I vacillate over those yoga blocks I bought 8 years ago. That have never been unwrapped. My internal dialog says, "Well, I want to do yoga in the new house..." Let's consider how much it cost me emotionally knowing they were sitting unused in the closet for the last 8 years? Certainly way more than the dollar I paid! 

Another favorite tip for my clients: "Guess what? These are not the last yoga blocks in the world. If you decide you need them again, you can always get more."

When my clients can't decide if they should keep an item that still has the tags on, most chuckle after I say something like, "Why don't we take these back to the store and let them hold them for you until you need them again?" Keep in mind, this also means you aren't paying to store thingsyou don't really need, and know you can get later. Because your space has a dollar amount associated with it. So it's important to only have things that will move you toward your goals. And this unnecessary storage takes it toll physically, mentally, and emotionally. So the more you can literally lighten your load, the more it helps you over all.  

It's easy to say those things to clients, but it was so much harder for me to remember it for myself! I am glad I went through the moving process again (this is move #29!) to keep these reminders fresh in my mind and better understand how my clients are feeling when we work together.

By the way, because its been 8 years, I gave away the yoga blocks to a good home!