Column 25 – What’s in Your Closet? By The FlyLady, Marla Cilley

Our journey through life starts with our first breath and it ends with our last one. Since our birth we have packed many bags for our trip. We are born naked but then we have to put clothes on our bodies. These clothes tell our history; from the baby shoes we took our first steps, to the dress we wore to the prom, our wedding dress and then to the pregnant clothes we wore when we gave birth. I’ll wager that your closet recounts many of the chapters of your life. 

Our closets are filled to over flowing. Each time we open our closet door we have a conversation with those clothes.  If the truth be known we actually wear only a few items in our closet. The rest are there to beat us up and pretend to rescue us. Our clothes have a way of making us feel bad.

Just think about your wedding dress that no longer fits your body. What are your first thoughts? How could I let this happen to me? I looked so good that day. Then I want you to think about how you starved yourself to death to fit into that dress in the first place.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why can’t we just be happy with ourselves just like we were? We were trying to fit into an unrealistic picture that only stays with us for that fleeting moment.

Those nasty conversations go on each time you walk into your closet. If it isn’t about a wedding dress it is about another favorite outfit that you paid good money for that is too tight. It is time for us to quiet these beratings and get on with our flight without feeling guilty.

There is an easy way to banish these voices from your head; get them out of your closet and only keep items of clothing that you absolutely adore and feel like a million buck in when you wear them. Decluttering your closet is not going to kill you; in fact it may just save your life.

It is time we packed for our journey. Our closets are no longer going to stand in our way of traveling light and enjoying our trip. Most of us only wear about 10% of the clothes we have stashed in there anyway. Let’s lighten our load and get rid of those nasty voices once and for all; Out of sight, out of mind! We can do this.

First we need to look at the clothes we truly love because we feel good in them. This goes for your shoes too. Pull those out of your closet one at a time and think about the words you hear in your head when you have them on. Now put them back in your closet and pull out something that does not give you the same feeling. If the item of clothing makes you feel bad, evokes feelings of guilt in you or you just don’t like it; then put it in the give-away box. If you have changed careers and no longer have to get dressed into suits then donate them so others can start their new jobs and look nice.

Let me warn you. Going through your closet is difficult because of all the stories that your clothes dredge up. This is why I only want you to spend 15 minutes at a time doing this. Do not spend hours; this will make you feel sick . Bless yourself by being kind to you. Bless others by donating those clothes that say ugly words when you enter your closet.

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