It’s the start of a new year and it’s time to have an honest look into your closet. Or is it???
We are well into the winter season, so summer clothes are in boxes under the bed or just stuffed in the back of the closet or dresser. Unless you are one of the fortune ones who travel in the winter. So the weather is the perfect time to spend a Saturday going through your closet making room for the boxing day sale clothes and putting the old stuff to the back.
I don’t know about you, but there are days when this is the last thing I should be doing. I am feeling the same as the weather, just kind of blah. The problem with cleaning out your closet on days like that is that you won’t be very honest with yourself. You will become overly critical of the way absolutely everything fits. Believe me all of a sudden, nothing will fit the way I will want it to. Everything will be itchy, too small, all twisted, just yucky. If I give in to those days and feeling, I would end up with a closet of oversized sweats, pajamas, and stuff that should have gone to the trash a very long time ago.
On those days, I am just way too hard on myself. I judge way too harshly and end the day in a bag of chips or a giant bowl of ice cream and then feel even worse than when I started.
We all have days that we feel blah. Just blah, that is ok, it happens, but that is not the day to clean out the closet. If though, that is what you have decided to do, then spend a few minutes in prep mode. Sounds weird, but it may be just what you need.
- Spend some time getting your head into a much better space.
- Find something that will help with the blahs.
- Sometimes for me, it’s a nice cup of tea.
- Sometimes it’s a walk outside, no destination, just fresh air.
- Sometimes it's flipping through one of my favorite coffee table books with great pics.
- Sometimes it looking at old trip pics, past places, past happy times.
- Sometimes it’s putting on my favorite playlist.
- If at the end of all that, you are still feeling like this will be a very destructive event, please, don’t do it.
If after all the attempts to get yourself in a better mind space, you are still feeling blah then, walk away! You may just have to leave it for another day. It also may seem silly that you can’t just ‘get ‘er done’ but if you do something like a little purging with the wrong head space, you may regret getting rid of too much, or keeping all the wrong things. That’s ok. Give yourself a break. There will be another day to do this, there will be a better time to do this. The closet full of clothes won’t go anywhere without you.
But, if you actually do manage to get yourself in a great mood for some healthy purging, then good for you. You should be proud of yourself. For me, purging my closet and cupboards is harder than it needs to be. I hang onto things way longer than I should so spring cleaning takes way more energy than I first plan for it.
You are not as fat as you think you are. People are way too self-absorbed to be that critical of what you are wearing. So it’s time you are not quite so hard on yourself. If you do manage to get your closet cleaned out and are happy with the ‘out with old’ then don’t forget the other half of that expression. ‘In with the new’. Give yourself permission to go get yourself something that makes you feel as special as you are.
Your closet needs to be a place of joy and celebration of who are you now – not who you were. – Stacy London
