The Liberation of Cleaning Out

 I have gone through my closets and bathroom to purge clothes and items I don’t need.  How liberating!

I tend to be one of those people who has a bit of clutter.  My house is clean, except for the piles of “stuff” on counters and my office.  I tend to pile papers and magazines and after a while I don’t even want to walk into my office because of the piles.

I am getting married soon, so I have had to make room in my closets and various areas of my house for my new husband and his two boys.  One Friday I took the afternoon off and took every single one of Basil and Levi’s toys into the garage and went through them.  I separated everything into garbage, donate, or keep.  We ended up with about one-third as many toys and a whole lot of clean space in the house.  I have gone through my closets and bathroom to purge clothes and items I don’t need.  How liberating!

I’ve had clients tell me (and I have experienced for myself) that holding on to clothes that don’t fit can actually hold you back.  Whether the clothes are too small and it’s unrealistic you’ll ever fit into them again, or whether they are too big and you’re keeping them “just in case,” either scenario is not going to benefit your emotional state of mind.  Clean them out!  You’ll do much more than make space in your closet–you’ll open your mind to a new body that you can love and embrace, no matter what size it is.

What about the scale?  I have a love/hate relationship with mine.  Sometimes I just want to ditch it once and for all.  Stepping on it and not getting the number I want can absolutely set the mood for the day.  On the other hand, weighing occasionally is a good practice so you can monitor your weight and possibly get it under control before you gain or lose too much weight.  If your scale does more damage than good to your psyche, toss it!

Another thing I’ve decided to stop using for a while is my running watch.  I tend to put too much emphasis on my pace and therefore often push myself too hard.  The marathon I’m running in a month is very hilly and I know my pace is going to be slow.  I’ve made the big decision to run that marathon without my running watch and I can’t even tell you how liberating that is!  I’m running for me, for health, for happiness–not as a slave to the watch.  I’m not tossing it for good, just benching it for a while.

What have you ditched or benched that has liberated you?

Tara Collingwood
MS, RDN, CSSD, LD/N
Tara is a nationally recognized expert and spokesperson on nutrition, fitness, and health promotion and is quoted in a variety of media including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and websites.

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