Walking always energises me and clears my head, so as soon as I woke up this morning, I did my usual five minute stretch routine (don’t think I’ve mentioned that before) and then set off for a 30 minute walk taking in everything around me. Did you spot the squirrel and the cat in the photos? I googled what squirrels symbolise…

Squirrels symbolize energy, practicality, and playfulness. They teach us work-life balance by showing us how they playfully collect nuts, all the while keeping up with playful antics. A squirrel literally seems to be telling us, “You need to have more fun in your life!.”

https://www.worldbirds.org

Interesting! I don’t usually carve out time for fun.

When I got back my husband gave me a neck and shoulder massage because I still felt a bit stiff and headachy from yesterday, and it really helped.

After breakfast, I sat for a while in the spare room and thought about what area I was going to tackle today. I did consider not doing anything again and instead just sit and read and nap and think…. and then a book caught my eye in the bookshelf called Dejunk your Life by Helen Foster (I do love it now that I can actually see the bookshelf with all my books in it, rather than having to climb over things to get to it). I just need to tidy it all up and declutter each shelf of books (but that’s for another day).

I scan read a few pages from the chapter on ‘Dejunk your Mind’ (because that seemed the most appropriate to how I was feeling). I read something on creating a ‘want to’ list. The book then suggested going back through the list to “look at what YOU really want to do for YOU”, as opposed to what everyone else wants you to do. I sat back, took a deep breath and went to clear the space that I look at first thing in the morning when I wake up…. the clutter by the bed.

The clutter castle that I see first thing in the morning

About a month ago, I moved the bed and rearranged the furniture thereby creating more space in front of the window. I then kept moving stuff into that space and although I have cleared it a couple of times, it’s started to pile up again growing arms and legs in the process. It’s really been bugging me; however, because I’ve been drawn to decluttering other more important areas of the house, I’ve left it. This is mainly because I see if first thing in the morning when I’m hungry and want breakfast and then don’t see it again until I’m about to go to bed. It’s not in my visible path.

I’m sure I’ve read something about clearing the space where you sleep so that it helps you to sleep better, so today I thought that it would be a good area to tackle, and then change my habits to keep it that way. This is how it looks now (I’m too embarrased to show you the before photo. It’s worse than a few weeks ago on day 202). There are still a few things to sort through, but the charity bag you see in the picture is ready to go into the garage – I was very ruthless with some of the clothes that I put in there so I need to get it out of my sight quickly in case I take stuff out.

Prompted by yesterday’s post and some very helpful comments from one of my lovely dedicated readers livingeveryday2017, I’ve made some notes today about lifestyle change and new habits. She’s made me think differently about the next phase of my life and how I’m going to try and change my habits to complement my 2020 challenge (my one time declutter year). I definitely need to change my mindset if I want to have more days where I can just sit and enjoy life a bit more and maybe have some fun!

Hope you’ve had a good Sunday everyone.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra