The Life-Changing Lesson I Learned from Minimizing My Shoes
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There is incredible freedom in letting go of the person you thought you’d become and embracing the person you truly are.
Is there room in minimalism and simplicity for personal growth? YES!! A growth mindset is absolutely core to minimalism. By removing a lot of the excess distractions, we’re actually able to focus on learning, creative pursuits and personal development.
If there is something in your possessions, whether a book, course, hobby tools, etc, that you have been stashing but still want to pursue, keep it. But don’t just store it away. Set it out. Look at it. Read it. Use it. Do it.
Stop saving things for someday and use them!
I know, easier said than done, but once you start dealing with these issues of Ideal Self and letting go, your mind will keep plowing down the path of self-discovery and each and every decision you make will be progress.
The Decluttering Snowball
Those three pairs of shoes started an intense (and massive) decluttering snowball. I declared June 2019 to be another Minimalist Game Challenge. I’m in Week 3 and by the end of the month over 500 items will be intentionally gone from my home.
But that’s not all.
Every day, I’m looking around. Digging in boxes, bins and piles. See, now that I’m clear on who my Ideal Self is, and that she has been doing nothing more than holding me back, I’m on a determined mission to get. her. out.
I’m done. Done with the stashing, the someday, the shoulds. I cannot be everything all the time and I refuse to even try!
Instead of wishing I could do it all, I am tossing off the chains and weights of expectations and simply enjoying who I am right now.
Am I still keeping things for the future? Of course. But only very specific and limited things that correlate with where our family is heading. The things that have slim to none chances of being utilized? Yea, those are leaving.
The 50 empty boxes in our tiny storage closet? Gone.
The extra packing and eight different types of mailing envelopes? Bye-bye.
The box of fake flowers and decor from my baby shower four years ago? Greatly minimized. (I do on occasion use fake flowers for photo props…but only my favorites!)
While my Ideal Self is off teaching seminars in her beige sandals, my real self is playing thinking skills on the floor with my preschooler. Now, will I ever teach seminars again? Sure, I probably will! But I won’t be wearing beige sandals.
You’ll find me in black shoes. =)
Related Articles on Decluttering
- Letting Go of My Ideal Self and Getting My Life Back
- What It Actually Looks Like to Let Go of My Ideal Self
- How Minimalism Taught Me to Invest in Myself
Gosh this is spot on for what I’m needing to do. After I had my daughter, my feet grew about a half size (ugh!) so a lot of my shoes don’t fit anymore. I wore heels and flats and cute sandals to work and would visit Payless A LOT so there are way too many shoes ha. I appreciate this post and it is encouraging me to just do it and get the old shoes out, and even some that do for but that I don’t wear now that I’m not working anymore.
Aww, my feet were sooo swollen during pregnancy and for like a year after so I feel you on that! They did eventually resume my previous size (haha), but that was actually the start of my shoe clean out too. There were lots of heels and impractical shoes that I just was never going to wear chasing a kiddo around!
This is such a good article. I love how decluttering your shoes helped you realize your style.
Thanks, Rachel! It was unexpected, but interesting experience to learn from!