Welcome to September! Winter has finally collapsed into spring and with it has brought the candescent month of change. For the next thirty days the season challenges you to take a breath and revisit your environment, both externally and internally. To cull the toxicity and clutter from your life and ease into October with a more purifying grasp on the narrow end of 2017.
Recently, I went through my house under the pretext of a spring clean. From faded concert shirts of the noughties, to old charms that bound ancient, phantom friendships—I cleaved them from my life with surgical precision. And as I sat amongst the plethora of boxes I realised I was sitting amongst ghosts; past versions of myself that I could no longer identify with. While that thought was melancholic, it illuminated a more elevating truth. I had changed, and that was unequivocally, undeniably, okay. I had stepped out of old skin, and stitched myself into a new one. Change is not the enemy.
Would we really want to be the same person we were at fifteen? Who enjoyed the same things, and sought the same friendships, whose view of the world was so perilously small? We should embrace change and commend those who have reviewed their persona and strove to become a better version of themselves; updated and bug free. Why are we so programed to fear change, to resist boldly against anything that would indicate a progression in life? We have no aversions to de-cluttering our living rooms and the passenger seat in our cars, but when it comes to reviewing our lives, that same sense of ruthlessness is shrouded in shadows.
This month is dedicated to casting out the old and ushering in the new. So why not apply that same methodology to ourselves, to bid a final farewell to the toxicity of our lives and surge forward into the summer with a new cathartic sense of self?
- Space:
A healthy clean environment is a healthy clean mind; our internal environment is reflective of our physical environment. Go through your space with a vigorous hand and a keen eye, culling anything that you haven’t used in a year or are only holding onto with the fear that you might just need it one day. You don’t really need that stack of forgotten birthday cards or rogue tamagotchi, do you?
RELATED: Here’s what Klara learnt about decluttering when she ditched 186 unnecessary items from her kitchen!
- Relationships:
Sometimes the best spring clean isn’t environmental, but rather looks at the toxicity of our lives holistically. We have no obligation to remain in relationships, friendships, or situations that only seep toxic energy into our lives; there is absolutely no obligation to forsake your own wellbeing in order to keep face or maintain a friendship purely because it existed for so long. If something is no longer working, leave it, and if you are on the wrong path, move.
- You:
This September it’s all about you! With all the toxicity and clutter you have cleaved from your life, there is now new space ready for you to dedicate solely to yourself. You know that goal you always wanted to achieve but never had the time—the self-defense class or the French lessons—well, September insists now is the perfect time.
Join me in taking the September challenge and de-clutter your life! Sever all the toxic negativity that is braided around your ankles, and emerge from this month basking in the warmth of springtime rejuvenation and solace.
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