Life transitions are part of our progress as human beings, but going through big changes often leave us with a mess, literally and figuratively. In an Elle Décor feature, a mom shares how she was able to organize both her home and life after coping with one of her life's biggest challenges.
Dawn Nadeau is one of the successful clients of Maeve Richmond,an organizing coach that is behind 'Maeve's Method.' Dawn is a mom who is so caught up with life that she did not have the time to organize her home. Just when she had realized that her kids were growing up so fast, she had to go through the difficulty of losing her dad. She said that the loss was her turning point and that she took time to reflect on how she wanted to go about her everyday life. She says, "From the clothes on my body to stuff in my home, I wanted to stop perpetuating things that made me feel bad about myself."
So she decided she would start doing this by going through the things she kept at home. Maeve helped her along the way. What Dawn realized is that she could not rush re-organizing her home. She recalls, "...what I thought might be a quick clean-out extravaganza turned into an epic, six-month journey through the nether reaches of my closets and my psyche."
The first step Dawn took was to give herself permission to let things go even if these things were still in good shape. It was not an easy task but she had to compromise. Those things that are difficult to throw away like her kids' artwork, she captured them in photos. That way, she could let go of the bulky stuff, while keeping the wonderful memory from her kids' childhood. Then she cleared out her closet of the clothes and accessories that she no longer needed. She set her mindset of taking care of herself by owning up to who she really was and holding on to a pair of jeans from 10 years ago would not contribute to her present self. Next, she filled storage and organizing spots with little things that make her smile, like pictures or mementos that make the storages fun to use.
Through the process of de-cluttering both in the literal and figurative level, Dawn felt like she has regained control over her home and life. She shares, "If the general state of my home is in chaos, I'm in chaos - and I don't want to feel like that again."
