Why is decluttering like riding a bike?
For my daughter’s 5th Birthday I bought her a bike. A pretty black and pink Tinkerbell bike. Al was fine for her birthday until she decided that the stabilisers had to come off as they were babyish. All her friends had a bike, and were quickly grasping the concept of how to ride, but MiniTingle just couldn’t get to grips with it. Lots of tantrums. Lots of “Why can’t I do this when all my friends can?” She gave up, despite my protests to keep trying. Every so often I would go into the outhouse and ask her if I could sell the bike, gathering dust and cobwebs but she always said no.
Fast forward 4 years.
Last weekend MiniTingle asked me to get the bike out. It was a lovely day and she said she wanted to take it to the park and learn to ride it. So we got all the protective equipment out, elbow pads and helmet and gave the bike a clean. It’s a bit small for her now, but to be honest I didn’t think it would matter as after 5 minutes she was probably going to be fed up and I’d finally be able to say goodbye to the bike. Except this time it was different. She was ready. She was confident, motivated and felt she could do it. She got on the bike, I held it by the seat for a few seconds, and then she asked me to let go. I let go and she just carried on peddling with a look of steely determination, then realised she was doing it herself without any support and gave the biggest grin, followed by a big shouty “YES! I DID IT! I’m riding a bike!”
As I stood there, so proud I realised that learning to ride a bike is very similar to having a declutter session.
Don’t start until you’re ready. If you’re made to start against your will it just won’t work, you’ll crash and be resentful. Emotionally you need to be prepared for the challenge. If you start off not wanting it you’ll procrastinate and it won’t happen.
It’s ok to be nervous when you start, and there will be a few wobbles. You might feel a bit of fear – the unknown is scary. It’s an emotional time but you’ll be ok, I promise.
It’s important to have someone supporting you – to stabilise your wobbles and keep you straight. Having a professional with you will mean you learn a lot quicker and stay on track.
You need the right equipment, not only physically (bags, tubs, boxes, labelling things) but mentally you need to be supported afterwards and be kind to yourself – you might ache!
Everyone else is on their own journey – don’t compare yourself to them. Everyone learns skills at different times – don’t feel bad just because someone has the skills you weren’t taught. You can learn them. It might not come automatically, but it doesn’t matter you’ll get there just like they did it’s just the journey may have taken you longer.
Once you’ve got it and it’s clicked for you – that’s it! You’ve got a skill for life – and you’ll feel amazing and proud that you mastered it!
The only issue that MiniTingle had, is also once that you have cracked it and are going at it full force, stopping may be an issue!
So now you know, decluttering is a lot like riding a bike. If you’re ready to learn and have an initial declutter session I currently have a few sessions available. If you’d like to know a bit more about what happens at an initial consultation check out this video on my youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/EsWGO_fk71k
Have a great week,
Love Heather x
