ep021 - Downsizing and Minimizing

Is clutter getting in the way of your dreams? Every endeavor requires sacrifice, often leading to a need for downsizing and/or minimizing somewhere in our lives. Imagining the freedom from reducing can feel great, but stepping into the actual process of lessening our stuff can quickly feel overwhelming—whether it’s in a physical, mental, or emotional realm. So how do you prevent downsizing overwhelm from stopping your dreams in their tracks? 

Chunk it down into bite-sized bits. 

We human beings accumulate. Some of us have rooms where we throw everything we want to stay out of sight and mostly out of mind. These rooms may be harbored in our minds, in our souls, or in our actual homes. 

When my husband and I sold the building we’d called home for over twenty years, and traded our larger residence into one that forced us into a more minimalistic lifestyle, we soon learned we couldn’t tackle cleaning the whole house at once. We had to focus on one room at a time, and sometimes concentrated on a single corner.

I started with my closets and began cleaning them out. We all have closets filled with things we haven’t used in 6 months to a year. If you aren’t using it—get rid of it. This goes for the mental and emotional items as well as the physical. 

Kitchens are other great hiding places for unnecessary stuff and clutter. I found a whole drawer full of miscellaneous plastic lids when we moved, almost all with no matching container. Get rid of your lids. 

Another area to check is your cookware. What’s hiding in the back of your cabinet? But in this case, don’t rush into throwing everything away. What haven’t you used, what dish haven’t you made in a while, that you’ve missed? 

And what about your refrigerator? What’s tucked back on the shelves, hidden behind other food and drink, that has growing things on it? How long has it been since you’ve checked the refrigerator of your dreams?

Is your fridge stocked with appropriate staple items? And are you stocking the staples needed to support your dreams? Make sure you have what you need, so you are always prepared to tend your dreams.

 

Thinking about the toxic things that can grow in the back of our dreams, consider the following:

Are there toxic habits you need to change? Are there toxic relationships you need to avoid? Are you holding onto toxic mindsets or listening to toxic childhood conditioning? Are you ignoring the growing things that can poison your dreams?

What can you downsize and minimize to make more room for your dreams? 

In the bathroom, we might condense to save space. Some of us need to throw out half-used, old hygiene items or makeup. Are those things helping you hold onto a mask you’ve created? If so, get rid of it. There’s power in authenticity.

 

Filling Needs:

• Are you being true to you as you pursue your dreams?
• Do you allow others to see your transparent self, where you let them know your life isn’t perfect, but neither do you wallow in whining? 
• Have you experienced the beauty that shines out of brokenness shrouded in hope, faith, and determination?

This episode’s Dream Planting Tips:

• Don’t overcomplicate your downsizing or minimizing plans. An extravagant plan is not necessarily always the best.  

• Take a few minutes and do a simple brainstorm, to let every thought related to what you need to diminish come to the surface of your mind. Then remove those things that aren’t feasible or necessary to your downsizing efforts and organize the rest.

• A cluttered house often means a cluttered mind. Release your creativity by cleaning around you.  

• Don’t hold onto the good at the expense of your great. 

• What can you put on to simmer related to your dreams, to bring out some amazing flavor?  

• Most people will not only accept you for who you are, but they will embrace you. 

• Expect a minute amount of jealousy or accusation from people who either don’t understand your dream or are angry because you are actually doing something about it. Their emotions are their business—let them think and say what they will, while you go about the business of tending your dreams.

• Release what you don’t use regularly—or people who can’t or won’t support your God-given dreams. 

• Guard and protect what holds sentimental value to you—things yes, but people even more. Work to sustain your important relationships, and make them part of your dream tending efforts. 

• Make sure you compensate people who are helping you tend your dreams appropriately, as you are able. Do not downsize or minimize what others are investing in you. Even if you can’t pay them a fair wage for what they contribute, offer an occasional gift card, or some other form of thanks. 

• Grab the Tending Your Dreams’ free giveaways and discounts from every episode. Go to tendyourdreams.com/freebie21 for your gift, just for tuning in. Don’t forget our product discount—20% off on all autographed books. Enter the coupon code TYD21 to snatch your deal.

Host Anita Agers Brooks can be found on various social media platforms, and you can discover additional dream tending tips at tendyourdreams.com.