Clean out your closet and other metaphors.

I am now a full-fledged adult human whose clothes are hung on wooden hangers.

I cleaned out my closet. I found some treasures. I color-coded my clothes and bagged up ill-fitting items to go to Goodwill. I folded my scarves. Then, I created a special place to honor my Alexander McQueen handbag.

I think he would have liked that. Every time someone comes over, I take them on a little tour. Because, wooden hangers.

The office has a desk upstairs, but it was never mine - neither the desk nor the office. My boys occasionally use it to game, but it mostly sits unused. Therefore, my important papers and bills and the boys' passports and my old teaching stuff sit in the back of my closet - my “Cloffice” (closet office - “Cloffice” - a term I’m adopting from the days of Glennon when she was a Doyle Melton).

Anyway. At the back of my closet, amidst my “Cloffice,” was stuffed a wedding dress, an unused Cricut machine still in the box, and some old family photos. The important papers tipped over on top of the “things” at the back of the closet. Then my sweaters fell on top of the papers. I swear I just could not go back there to deal with any of it.

So, my closet/ world shrunk in proportion to my ability to deal with the messiness of it all. (You knew this was going to be a metaphor, right?)

It’s never about the things we keep hidden away.

It’s almost always about the feelings around the hidden things - feelings like misunderstood love languages, work, warmth and the value of wooden hangers.

I have a business coach - Ms. Karla Peters. She got divorced a year ago. And she keeps telling me I should talk about divorce more. If I were a divorce coach, I would tell you to go clean your closet and burn the wedding dress. Onward!

SIDENOTE: Raise your hand if you wore your mother’s wedding dress. Exactly. I bet there is one of you out there, though. And did you wear it because your mom had a smokin’ hot wedding dress, or you were afraid not to?

Anyway, I had a hard time cleaning out my own closet. So, I’m not a divorce coach.

Inspecting each item, I considered the value of what I had been holding onto for quite some time. And then I let that shit go, man. And the reason why:

Because I want to make room for how I’ve matured. I want it to be evident that I care about the people, places and things in my life. I want to have a space free of clutter that I can grow into.

And I want to love and be loved that way as well. ❤️

NEXT STEPS: Is your life a little messy? I have time in my schedule next week for two free 30-minute brainstorming sessions. It’s the perfect way to start decluttering your closet (READ: life). First come, first served.

Let's Brainstorm!