A popular wellness trend is decluttering, clearing away the chaos and confusion in our physical spaces, in our lives, and in our minds. When we declutter, we take mindful steps to simplify both our surroundings and our internal environment. We look at what elements are holding us back, in our daily lives, in our homes, and in our psyches. Very often we fill ourselves up with all kinds of nonessential things, things that ultimately end up being distractions from our true purpose and calling in life. We worry about things that are out of our control. We become consumed with superficial concerns, rather than staying aligned with the truth of who we are and what we really care about. When we declutter, we cut through all the excess and get down to the core of what’s most important to us. How can decluttering help us in our recovery?

When we’re working to recover, we have layers of issues cluttering our minds and hearts. Much of it isn’t a true reflection of who we are and what we actually care about. We’ve absorbed other people’s problems. We’ve taken on their energies, their judgment of us, their criticisms and mistreatment of us. We’ve used external distractions to avoid feeling our pain. We’ve developed coping mechanisms that don’t serve us but actually harm us and hold us back. We want to remove everything that isn’t aligned with our inner truth so that we can better focus on our healing and wellness. We want to rid ourselves of anything hindering our progress and blocking us from feeling our emotions. We want to face our difficult thoughts and feelings head on, without all the extra clutter keeping us separated from our true selves.

To declutter, we have to do a lot of simplifying in our lives, and this can be a difficult process. We’re removing habits, behaviors, patterns and relationships that don’t serve us but that we’ve become very attached to and dependent upon. This includes our addictions, and we will inevitably feel resistance and fear at the thought of having to let them go. We want to focus not on what we think we’re losing or having to give up, but instead on everything we’re gaining. Simplicity brings us freedom. It gives us clarity that we can’t have when we’re filled with the confusion, distractions and noise of extraneous clutter. What can you remove from your life to be more at peace? How can you simplify? How can you create more space for the things and the feelings that you do want to have?

You might feel alone in your struggle, but the community at Bayview Recovery is here to give you the support and understanding you need. Call 888-570-7154 for more information.