Hello all I realise that not everyone in the beginning is convinced that the baby steps work, I for one wasn't convinced either.
In my early days of decluttering and reclaiming this house I too wondered whether I would ever make any progress, there was just too much stuff and too little time. It would take forever to baby step my way to freedom. I got discouraged often, gave up and 'slobbed out' several times, but a little memory kept popping up in my mind ... my Grandmother saying 'never give up, keep trying, Little and often wins the day' and 'the tortoise won the race not the hare'. I was overwhelmed, the measly 30 mins I had to dedicate to decluttering and reclaiming this house seemed useless. I calculated one day that it would take me six years to conquer my clutter. That really discouraged me and I gave up at that point. The memory of my Grandmothers word haunted me, I spent many a sleepless night worrying about it, I spent more worrying and thinking about my cluttered house than doing anything about it. Baby steps do work because they add up. Its true some people take more baby steps each day than others, but each gets to their destination eventually. Take me for example, some days I would deal with only one single item other days I would make great strides. I learnt one valuable lessons along the way, baby steps are no good unless you also learn new habits. However, every single item that you deal with is a step in the right direction, its just that you need to back it up with patrolling and 'good habits'. As I have said many times before... 'what works for one doesn't necessarily work for all' but one thing is true, it doesn't matter if you are decluttering slowly like the tortoise or galloping through your clutter like a race horse, if you don't learn new habits you'll eventually end up where you started. Baby steps have one advantage over racing, you have the time to adjust, time to learn new habits along the way and time for the other people in your household to adjust too. Its all in the essay 'Slow but sure, but why' [http://journeyfromclutter.com/essay34.htm]. Don't get me wrong, I admire the people that can whip their place into 'paradise' in a short period of time, I wish I could do it. I have on occasion but only to see it revert in just a short period of time. You see I totally understand the people who are discouraged by the baby steps principle and I want to reassure you that it does work. Lets face it any progress however small is an improvement. Read the 'essay' and let me know your thoughts. Louise PS Been there and even got the T-shirt to prove it LOL *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Journey from clutter List Website http://journeyfromclutter.com Members Only Page http://journeyfromclutter.com/MembersOnly/MembersArea.htm Unsubscribe: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word 'unsubscribe' in the 'Subject:' field to be removed from the main list. To Unsubscribe from the Digest version of the list send the unsubscribe message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
