Description: This week, the Squad accomplishes two amazing tasks: doing something great for yourself and doing something equally amazing for others!
Listen Now:
Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 10 of our second season of Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and this week's invitation is to clean out your closet. And, I mean that actually literally. No, no metaphor there. Clean out your closet. The reason this came up is because I just finished doing my big summer-winter closet switch and clean out. And man, I got rid of so much stuff, and I'm telling you, I feel so good. We all know this feeling. I'm not alone in this. When we really clean something out and get rid of things, it just, oh, feels so freeing. Right? In my mind, it's that idea of outer order, inner calm.
I always try in my closet to have some empty hangers when my hangers get full. And, if I have nowhere to put things, that is my signal that I've got too much stuff. And so, I try to do this little switch off that when I get something new, I have to get rid of something. So, I always just have a bag in my closet that I just keep adding things to to donate. So, I try to keep up with that. And, then somehow, I don't know, it always gets away from me. And, I ended up shoving things in different crevices, making things work. ... And just feeling overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I have.
And so, as I went through the closet today, first as I got all those summer stuff out and sorted through it, instead of just putting it in the bins without thinking about it, I paused, and I considered did I even wear it? And, how did I feel when I wore it? Did I feel good in it? Or, did I pull and it just didn't feel right? And if so, I got rid of it. And, in my mind, I just thought about the, you know, the folks that I would be donating to who. To them, that might be their favorite piece of clothing. So, why let it sit in my closet, not doing anything when someone else could really enjoy that?
And so, I was relentless in getting rid of things. In fact, I have these bins that hold the other seasons' clothes. And, I have two empty bins, because I just had so much stuff that I was like, Hmm, I don't even want to hold on to that for next year.
So, that's my invitation for you. Now, it's kind of, for me, it's kind of an all or nothing. Set aside like half of an entire day to do this, but maybe you want to just kind of piecemeal this and just as you're going through each day, when you've got your closet open or your dresser drawers or whatever it is for you, as you look at items, pause for a second and decide do you love this? And if you don't, maybe you just start ... You've got a little bag, and you start putting things in a bag. Maybe like me, you take some time and you just dig in, and you really go through things and clean out and give away and move along and decide what is worth keeping, and what do you want to let go of? And, as you let go, just feel joy in that.
And listen. I know. I know, because I've been there. I even had moments ... I thought it was on the other side of this, but I had moments as I was cleaning out my closet of clothes that just don't fit that I've been holding on to, and that can do a number on our brain. And, you know what? I've decided, just get rid of it. Instead of that just every time I opened my closet, there's that pair of jeans that my butt doesn't fit into, that I just makes me feel bad. I've decided to just let them go. God, just love our bodies as they are right now, and wear clothes that make us feel good with where we are right now, and give it away. Just don't let that stuff haunt us.
So, that's what I want you to do this week. I want to, to literally clean out closets or clean out a dresser or whatever yours set up is in your house. I want you to clean it out. I want you to get rid of it. Of course, this also pertains to like cleaning out your desk and kitchen and all of that. Make it work for you, as always. But for me, I'm just really set on the closet and the clothes, and let's just get rid of them. Decide what pieces you love. What do you look forward to? What do you know that when you put that on, oh, you're going to feel good. That's what you want to keep. Right? And then, let the other stuff go. Let the other stuff go. And then, I can't wait to hear how it makes you feel and think of the joy that you were going to bring to someone else who gets to have those clothes that don't necessarily work for you, but they're going to work for them.
Mm, yay! I can't wait to hear how it goes.
As always, huge, huge, thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this amazing job I get to do. And, oh my goodness. Gosh. Thank you to you, this bad-ass Self-Care Squad that I just, I just love you guys. I, as many of you know, over on our Facebook page, have been posting a question a day, and I'm going to continue doing that because, it fills my heart was so much joy. That ... To me, there's such a sense of community that's being built over there, and I'm so grateful for it. I'm so grateful for it. So keep jumping in, responding to those questions, reading each other's, cheering each other on and know, oh, we've got hands on each other's backs. I'm so grateful for you. Have an amazing week. Clean out your closet.