Self Love Challenge Day #1: Declutter

The Day #1 challenge is to declutter. In order to clear your mind, you need to clear your life. This was a challenge for me because I'm not typically a messy person. What can I declutter? Oh, how about the THIRTY THREE THOUSAND EMAILS I HAVE!

We have officially begun the 30 day trek toward self-love and empowerment and confidence and all that. I'm not downplaying what's happening here, but the idea of living a life where I truly feel this way is exactly that: an idea. I want to get there so I'm trusting that each step I become actively involved in is getting me to my goal. I want to be more confident. I want to see in me what others see in me. I want to look in the mirror objectively rather than with a critical eye. I want to make a decision and stick with it regardless of outside opinions. This kind of life sounds like something I could get used to. I also know that I'll be a happier person.

That being said, the first challenge is to declutter something in my life. Keke suggested cleaning out my car or closet or house or desk. None of those places are cluttered for me. I've discovered the reason I clean my car every time I get out or why my clothes are arranged in categories is because I need control... of something. Organizing is my control.

I got to thinking about what I could purge that would get me to the next step in our 'Learn to Love Yourself in 30 Days' challenge.

Then it hit me. I am absolutely out of control when it comes to email and digital. For years, I ran a business from home and a blog with my mom. Because of these two things, my incoming email and notifications and any possible junk floating around will make its way to my inbox. So much so that I lost complete control. That is how I have almost 34,000 emails. Some is junk, some are bill notifications and others are messages I HAVE to get back to.

Last night, I sat down and started powering through. It took me far too much time but I did it. I'm down to just a little over 100 emails - a number I can control. While I was at it, I went into my Facebook notifications and responded to events I will be going to and declined those I won't. I liked pages I wanted to like and closed out the ones that didn't apply to me.

These tasks may seem simple or even ridiculous but I can't believe how great I feel today. I feel like I have a grip. It's also helped me with some relationships. It wasn't fun responding to messages that were months old. I'm the queen of thank you cards so a late response makes me anxious. Turns out, most everyone understood. Huh. Who knew?

My declutter may not be your declutter and that's what makes this challenge so great. We get to choose where we focus our attention and what will improve us as individuals.

I'm ready for what Day #2 will bring. Do you want to do the challenge with me? You can join at any time HERE. There's no shame. We're certainly not in a position to judge.

Until later,

Tawsha