Are you Accidentally Sabotaging your Life?

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Not too long ago, I’d started reading a book about manifesting more money into your life. It’s called Get Rich, Lucky Bitch (thanks to my sweet friend Rachel for the suggestion!). I’d read The Secret earlier this year—also about manifesting what you want out of life and I was hooked on the concept, but having trouble putting it into practice.

Did I just wish for the things I wanted and they’d magically appear? Create a vision board and they’d arrive? It all seemed too easy to be true.

What I loved about Denise’s approach, the author of Get Rich, Lucky Bitch, was that she had actual steps so at least I knew where to start. She also mentioned that her steps are NOT the only way, but that they worked for her—that was good enough for me!

The first one was “declutter your life”. HA! A big part of this is really decluttering your negative thoughts about money, but I also took it literally.

I often feel like clutter is the bane of my existence. I did a whole Minimal in May series a few months ago on this topic exactly! It was so refreshing to get rid of and donate things we weren’t using—it was like a high! I’d finish one area and start setting my sights on the next area that desperately needed attention.

The only issue was that just about every area of our home needed some decluttering and I was still trying to run my blog, launch Easy Weekly Recipes and be a mom and wife. Oh, and I was working on decluttering the negative money blocks too!

So, I enjoyed those uncluttered spaces and a few months later, I looked up and other areas of the house had become incredibly cluttered and junky. Just reading that chapter of the book suddenly opened my eyes to how much junk was laying around.

I used to blame Rob—who is definitely not the tidiest (love you babe!), Owen, who is still working on his cleaning up skills, and the fact that we lived in a tiny apartment and didn’t have room for all of our stuff .

But, for a long time, I failed to accept that I was a big part of the problem too.

I’m often so busy putting everyone else’s stuff away that I forget to do my own, meaning that my stuff was EVERYWHERE. I was complaining about everyone else, but turns out, I was often the main offender! Whoops.

Another big realization? Coming to terms with the fact that it wasn’t our apartment that was too small, it was that we had too much stuff.

Admittedly, I know we’ve held on to too much stuff over the years. We live in a rental, and our current place doesn’t have space for some of the things, okay, a lot of the things, we have. But, I keep holding onto them, thinking—”oh, I’ll use this in a house someday!”

But, will I?

Chances are, no. By the time we decide to finally settle down a bit and buy a place, I’ll probably not want all this old junk I’ve collected over the years. I’ll want something new, and in the meantime, I’d rather not keep all this other stuff around.

So, it’s time to purge, donate, toss, organize and when I’m done—rinse and repeat!

Tiding and decluttering can actually be a little addicting, and my biggest struggle with doing it all? You guessed it, time! But, I’ve decided that it’s worth taking the time to do it because in the long run, it’ll give me time back! I’ll spend less time organizing, stressing, and procrastinating about cleaning because it won’t be as overwhelming as it is in this current moment.

I already know that when my house is clean and tidy, I’m able to be more creative, calm and happy with everything in my life. Things just fall into place!

So, why do I continue to sabotage my happiness day in and day out?! Good question. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m doing some digging to figure out why.

The theory is that when you’ve decluttered your life, you become happier with the things you have and that gratitude attracts more joy, more happiness and more of the things you want (money, travel, dream house, dream guy) into your life.

I know it works because I’ve seen it work for other people, and I’ve seen it work for myself. A few months ago, I manifested $4,600 and countless perfect parking spots (a rarity in Chicago) in a matter of days. It was pretty incredible to see it happen, and so quickly.

An even simpler way to think of it? Think of yourself like a magnet—like attracts like! If you’re moping about, thinking negative thoughts and constantly complaining about all the bad stuff in your life, you’re going to get more of it. And, on the contrary, if you’re positive, joyful, believe that good things will always happen to you—they do!

Looking back at those weeks where I manifested all that stuff, I was insanely happy! I chose to focus on the good, find the positive in everything and believe that good things were going to happen and it worked.

But, then my clutter—the stuff in my house, the stuff in my mind, my own blocks on happiness and money—got in the way.

Now, I’m going to ask you a tough question—are YOU sabotaging your own happiness? Even if it’s accidental? What can you do TODAY, in this moment to change the vibes you’re sending out?

It could be something as simple as thinking positively, telling yourself that good things happen to you, that you’re lucky (even if you feel like you’re faking it). Maybe you declutter an area of your house when you get home from work.

You deserve to be as happy and successful as you want to be, but you’ve got to get out of your own way first!

This month (and hopefully I learn to stick with it) I’m recommitting to decluttering so that I can get back to living my best life. If you haven’t read either of those books, I highly suggest you snag both—Get Rich, Lucky Bitch and The Secret. They’re easy reads, you can also get them on your tablet or even as audiobooks if you’re not into reading.

BTW, 7 habits that’ll save you money.