Are you as excited about today as I am? I figured what a great way to start off Sunday than with anticipation and preparation for the week ahead!

As I mentioned in my last email, our February intention is to Declutter. This week we are going to declutter our HOME. Now, I am not going to go the full-on Marie Kondo method with you! I feel anxiety building up as I think of pulling everything out of every room at once. Busy moms often times don't have the capacity in their days for that...so let's cut ourselves some slack and start small (remember small tasks/steps daily build up to big change).

This week we will pick 2 areas of your home you will declutter! Those areas can be the kitchen or bathroom counters, your closet, kitchen drawers, pantry! Just pick two areas! Once you know what you are going to tackle we are going to take 3 days to fully declutter one area and 3 days to tackle the next (Sunday's are for Jesus - take a break). Spend two uninterrupted hours a day doing each area (maybe during naptime or when the kiddos are in school). Put on music, a podcast, an audiobook - whatever motivates you...just give yourself two hours (if you have more than two hours bravo!). When a determined mama can focus for two hours she can tackle anything! If your kiddos aren't napping find a time in your day (maybe after bedtime) to get your two hours in...perhaps even include them if necessary - they might enjoy it!

What you need to know is clutter in your home can cause massive amounts of mental distractions. It is often a result of other underlying things we keep putting off in life or an indicator of areas in our lives that need more of our attention. Clutter is also an emotional pitfall, where we hang on to things because we have an emotional attachment with the item. We need to release the emotional energy from items in our home that are not serving us in our current season and in doing so we are opening up to receiving what we truly need.

This doesn't mean clean out to go buy more - nope. It means that if you are holding onto things for the wrong emotional reason...you are not opening yourself up to healing that area of your life. Back in February of last year when I wanted to initially do this challenge I researched a lot about clutter and the psychology behind it and all arrows point to holding things to not let go of memories, hurts, or the possibility of getting back what you have lost. One of the best examples is holding on to clothes that don't fit you right now in hopes you'll "lose" the baby weight...friend, let me encourage you to let it go. Give yourself permission to love your current body. This doesn't mean the weight is NEVER going to come back, it just means that if you have been holding on to that pair of jeans for 5 years hoping to one day fit into them - I encourage you to release them...start fresh, the steps to getting the body back will start another month.

Who is ready for Monday? 

 


XOXO! 
Marcy

P.S. If you are joining me, email me at hello @ kaiyadesigns.com with what two areas you are going to tackle this week! Remember cheer yourself and your accomplishment on at the end of the two hours!!

The objective is to declutter our home, our minds, our bodies!

How many of you have been hooked on the new Netflix series with Marie Kondo? Everyone is watching it and making use of her skillset to transform their living spaces. Last year, I wanted to do a declutter challenge with you guys. But as the story goes, life got in the way and I did not have the time to put out what I was working on myself. In a way, I’m glad that I lived through the process myself first so I could be a better guide for you guys this time around.

What I found over the last year is that there are more areas in our lives that need constant decluttering: our home, yes, but also our minds and bodies need to be decluttered. If you will be joining me for this un-official challenge in February I think working through decluttering these areas of your life will truly be a catalyst to creating the best 2019 yet!

You see, we are creatures of habit. And psychologically speaking, we are much happier and successful humans when we create routines. But routines and sticking to them truly relies on having a right mind and foundation. It’s really difficult to mentally start anything new when our minds and spaces are not right. We will inevitably get overwhelmed and give up. 2019, is not the year of giving up - especially not on ourselves. Which is why each and every month we are going to take the proper steps to create the momentum for real lasting change.

Each week in February we will focus on easy steps. Those that can be accomplished and worked on over the course of the week. February is not about getting overwhelmed it’s about taking a step every single day that will create lasting change. If I’m being honest with you, when I watched Marie’s first episode on Netflix - I got a little anxious. One of her exercises was for the people to take EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF CLOTHING out of their closets and go through them one by one and decide which item “sparked joy” and which ones didn’t. The ones that don’t, you thank it for their time with you and you donate them (if they are in good condition) or toss them. If you kept them you’d have to fold them according to a category in a very specific way and put them away. Now all that sound super dandy…I guess. But it was the taking EVERY SINGLE THING out of the closet at once that gave me anxiety.

Most of us have waaaay too much stuff in our closets/homes. Removing everything all at once would truly and realistically require HOURS to go through, find out if it sparks joy and put away - if we are being honest and depending on our shopping habits, even days.

In my opinion, if you haven’t decluttered your closet (or home) in years - starting with one section daily is more palatable than going full-force. Focusing on a project for hours when you have kids, work, a husband - heck a life is like torture and at times discouraging. However, you can start a section at a time: your jeans, blouses, skirts, pants, winter clothes, the junk drawer in the kitchen we all have - one area per day and tackle that area in an hour or two not 30 hours. Taking smalls steps daily is a lot less stressful than going all out, becoming overwhelmed and then having to look at a pile of clothes, for days, in a corner in your room.

Something to know about me - I HATE clutter! I don’t use the word HATE often but when it comes to clutter I have to keep it all the way real. A pile of clothes that aren’t moving for a few days would send me into full-blown hive mode and I’d be an overall stressed out, unhappy mama until it ends up back in my closet hung any which way, just as long as it’s where it’s supposed to be.

I want February to be manageable. I want you to celebrate every single step you take action on, even if it’s very small step! Did you hear that?? I want every step to be celebrated! Celebrating our WINS is part of this decluttering process. You see, I mentioned decluttering the mind as one of the things we will tackle. We live in a society that if that WIN isn’t BIG enough it wasn’t worth it. I beg to differ. I think that if we celebrated more we would accomplish more because we are demonstrating self-love through celebrating all wins...no matter what size. Our minds need those celebrations, it’s sometimes easier for us to talk unkindly to ourselves than kindly. I once read something that said, “if we talk to a friend the way we talk to ourselves would that person still be our friend?” I want you to think about that - celebrate every step no matter how big or small - showing yourself love is a major step in creating lasting change!

In February, I also want to celebrate your small and big steps! I’d love to know if you’ll be partaking in this un-official challenge. Send me an email at hello @ kaiyadesigns.com and let me know. Oh, and if you know a friend who would love this please this post with them…the more the merrier!

I’m so stoked!


XOXO!
Marcy

How is it going? Wanted to check in on you - you know because it's almost the end of January and we made a little commitment to ourselves just a few short weeks ago. ;)

So...how'd you do? Did you have those "I nailed it days" and those "I totally walked out the door in my PJ days" ( because you know I did) and did you survive it all feeling empowered and equipped to tackle the next task by building off the first? I sure hope so.

January's intention was about showing up, but we are just a day away from February and we want to continue our momentum for making 2019 our best year yet! You see, you're never, ever, EVER going to regret showing up for yourself...and to be honest, making excuses as to why you shouldn't do things for yourself is sooo 2018! Girl, we are here to create an impact and leave an incredible legacy, and that starts with YOU!

So tell me something, are you excited for February? Even if January wasn't perfect - because we are keeping it all the way real over here and we are following the motto: done is better than perfect every single time (you can go tweet that if you'd like :) ). And if you are striving for perfection I'll be seeing you in the same exact spot next year, seriously! Girl, perfection is lame. I strongly believe that "perfection" is FEAR wrapped in a pretty little package. It makes us "look" better when we call ourselves perfectionist instead of saying we are scared shitless - am I right?

So let's get pumped for February because it's coming no matter what - so let's look to it with anticipation and expect that God is already working amazing things for our good!

You PUMPED?

XOXO!
Marcy