Webster’s Dictionary describes clutter this way:
[kluht-er] –verb (used with object)
1. to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner.

There it is. We are littered with things in a disorderly manner. So, I guess if we keep our house clean and tidy we’ll feel okay. In my world, it doesn’t work that way. I can clean until the cows come home. Every dish can be in its place, every shoe in a closet, every child nestled, sleeping peacefully in her bed. Yet there is still clutter. Why?

Often it’s not about the physical things that surround us. It’s because we as parents don’t turn down the volume in our own heads and give ourselves time to relax. There is ALWAYS a project to do. Rake the yard, paint the trim on the house, fix a broken washing machine, go to yet another birthday party. The clutter of our lives seems endless.

So how do we break free? To borrow a phrase from a popular advertising campaign from the 80’s: Just say no. Does it really matter if the yard is littered with leaves or that you haven’t gone to the hardware store yet to buy paint for your home improvement? What matters right now is time. Time to spend with your family, and most importantly, time to spend on yourself. As parents (and especially moms) we put ourselves on the back burner to make sure everyone else’s needs are met.

Sometimes we just have to break the cycle. Like author Elizabeth Gilbert did. In her novel Eat, Pray, Loveshe writes, “If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.”

I’m not suggesting we pack our bags and leave the family for a far off land. But what we can do is free ourselves from the clutter that holds us back in our own lives. Get rid of the excess. Donate old books to the library, clothes to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Give unused household items to Habitat for Humanity and baby items to the Florence Crittenton House. Charity begins at home, so why not begin your new year by doing a clutter cleanse and donating to your favorite cause? When your work is done, sit back, relax and give yourself a much needed break from mess that muddles your mind. You’ll have more energy and time to do the things you love for yourself and for others.