Probably the single biggest obstacle to launching into rightsizing your life is fighting the “Fear Factor.” Until the brutal recession decimated many of our 401Ks, to say nothing of our plans for eventual retirement, the image of the Golden Years was something like the picture on your left: adequate money in a nest egg and lots of leisure time to spend doing whatever strikes our fancy. For many, the shock of the last few years has turned into either free-floating anxiety, or out-and-out terror about the future.
Well, if the idyll of lounging in lawn chairs isn’t within reach these days (and even if it is), the inspiring thing about rightsizing your life comes from having less to worry about, less to take care of, less to polish, dust, repair, or refurbish.
As many who have been through the rightsizing process will tell you: less can actually mean more! More time, less stress, more money saved, less stress, a more manageable life, less stress…well you get the idea.
One of the key categories on the Rightsizing Your Life website is decluttering. The goal, of course, is methodically to sift through the possessions clogging your life to cull out only the best-of-the-best and then responsibly dispose of the rest. But take it from a veteran: we tend to procrastinate and ignore the “methodical” part altogether until a major life event triggers an equally major shift in lifestyle–rarely anticipated or voluntary.
Empty nesters often look forward to the moment the kids leave for or have graduated from college. But then there are other situations that are not as pleasant: a career is winding down–or has tanked completely. Then there are the home foreclosures or the owners forced to sell a house in a short sale. A divorce, or the death of a loved one can also initiate abrupt changes.
It can be truly overwhelming to be dealing with some serious “bumps in the road” when also faced with a personal environment awash with unwanted, unneeded, unusuable stuff.
But here’s the good news: whatever is prompting you to seek more serenity and ease in your life, rightsizing –– rather than downsizing –– could be just the antidote to the understandable anxiety of wondering what the next chapter will look like in terms of size, atmosphere and amenities and what are the steps to achieving the surroundings that will feel right for me?
Before any of these sometimes scarey questions prompt your thoughts to spiral downwards, think “Liberation!” Falling into the downsizing dumps can be avoided if you begin to take some simple measures to eliminate–and, yes, liberate– from your household (and even your life) anything you don’t currently use and love. It’s just that simple
Take it from those who’ve walked down the rightsizing path ahead of you, there are huge benefits awaiting you, evidence of which you can see on the left. This is the same garage as above–rightsized. There were obviously a number of steps taken to get there, but it wasn’t rocket science ,and a workaday knowledge of “best practices” which you’ll find on this website, you too, can find such “liberation.”
Achieving freedom from being ruled by possessions allows the rightsizer to focus on what really matters and frees up time and space to do the things you really want to do in life.
But how to get there, you ask? Some answers are offered at our next we rendezvous….
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