Is Your Identity Causing Your Clutter?
Identity is a funny thing. It can bring so much meaning to our lives, when we identify with our family, cultural background, or ethnic group. But it can also weigh us down with a lot of baggage if we’re not careful.
What in the world do I mean by this, and how in the world does it relate to home organization?
Well, the fact is that a lot of people have clutter that they keep because it’s tied to an identity may no longer apply to them.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say you learned to ski when you were a little kid, and skied with your family throughout your childhood. You did a ton of dirtbag ski bum trips with your friends in your 20’s. When you met your now partner, they loved to ski too (or maybe they snowboarded… gasp!), and the two of you skied like crazy all winter every year.
Well, time went on, and you and your partner had a kid or two, and as kids tend to do, they consumed a lot of your time. You hired me to help you organize your garage, and all of a sudden we’re standing there and I’m showing you a dusty pair of skis and asking if you’d like to keep them.
You tell me that you want to keep the skis because you’re a skier.
As your organizer, I’m going to ask you a couple of follow up questions:
When was the last time you went skiing? This question is intended to help you understand if you are still in fact a skier. We often hang on to the identity much longer than we participate in the activity.
Do you have plans to go skiing within the next year? We often go through phases in life, and that’s totally ok. This question is meant to help you understand what part of the phase you’re in. Are you ready to pick this activity back up, or do you still have other priorities that take precedence over your time?
When you go skiing next, will you want to use these skis? Gear for any activity gets worn out and rusty, and of course technology continues to advance. If you planned a ski trip but wouldn’t reach for these skis to bring with you, that’s a good sign that identifying as a skier isn’t enough of a reason to keep the skis.
Skier is the identity, skiing is the activity. The identity here is getting in the way of you understanding your relationship to the activity and what stuff you need for it.
Identities, even if they sound frivolous, are sometimes hard to let go of - especially when they tie us to times in our lives that we remember as particularly joyful and carefree. Realizing that an identity is no longer appropriate is an admission that you’re in a different phase of life, and that phase may have more responsibilities and less fun.
So why give up the identity, and with it, the clutter? Because there is joy to be found in the aspects of your life that you have now that you didn’t have when that old identity took center stage! With the space freed up in your garage by your ski gear, you could double down on your soccer game tailgate setup, or make camping with your family a new tradition.
Decluttering isn’t just about saying no to things you own, it’s about saying yes to future activities. If you don’t declutter, you don’t leave that space open for things that may yet come into your life, and you may miss out on wonderful experiences.
What’s an identity that’s causing you a lot of clutter?
LMW
