So you think decluttering is all about identifying the stuff you want to remove from your full set of belongings, saying bye-bye and chucking it out?

If only it were that simple. In a world where everyone exclusively runs on rational decisions, this might just work, but in the REAL world – that is, the one we all live in – this is rather unusual, if not outright impossible.

Have you ever asked yourself what it takes for you to truly relax? Most likely you haven’t, and if you have gotten around to asking this question, you probably came up with notions involving the words “calm”, “outdoors”, “spending time with family” and the like.

All those – and many others – are good attempts at finding your own truth, but there is trouble ahead: do these answers really reflect what makes you relax? Or are they, at least partially, reflections of what you believe you should find relaxing?

As mentioned in last week’s intro to this mini-series (the previous post), habits are closely entangled with other elements that keep us from going ahead and apply changes, the most notable of them, but by no means the only ones, being fear of the unknown and lack of motivation.

There is, however, a simple way to move forward and challenge all those things that hold you back, and that is questioning your habits, and doing so regularly!

Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to get yourself to do something new or unusual (for you)? There are a lot of reasons for this effect, including but not limited to fear, lack of motivation or deeply engrained habits.

Holding on to clutter is no different: it is often a sign for some level of blockage and resistance to change, and part of the job of a professional declutterer is to open my clients’ eyes to the possibilities they might be missing out on because of those blockages.

Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by a task and pottered on for a long time before you simply couldn’t go any further? At that point, the reasonable thing to do is to ask for help.

Most of us don’t ask, though, nor do we even consider asking at all. Why is that? Why don’t we feel comfortable asking for help when we clearly need it?