Cleaning Out Your Internal Closet

This article was originally published on May 11, 2011 as “Cleaning Out Your Closet.”

Several years ago a friend said to me, “You don’t seem like yourself lately. You don’t seem happy.” Later that night I took a good, long look in the mirror and admitted to myself that I understood what she meant. I didn’t know where the old me had gone; and more importantly, I didn’t know myself any more. I had lost what or who I was trying to become.

Soon after, that same friend suggested I make a list of the five things I wanted to be “when I grew up.” I’d never had someone ask me in such blunt, defined terms to list five goals. But that “Top Five” list soon began to light my path with the brightness of the North Star. It showed me the inconsistencies between who I was and who I hoped to become. It reminded me to think about what I like and what I want to be like. But most of all, that list allowed me to examine my cluttered life and begin the long process of cleaning my internal closet. Over the next year, with mounting confidence, I began to say to myself, “This goes, that stays. I used to love this, but I’ve gradually outgrown it.”

Create a Wish List
Years ago, when I sat down to create a “Top Five” list for my life, was the first time I really grabbed on to the idea that I could be different. And I could be better. I have come to believe that all women–and mothers–possess an imaginary room full of hopes and dreams. Late at night, or during those rare moments when we are blissfully alone and our thoughts are quiet, we might visit that secret room and admire the lovely view. But most of us don’t live there. We remain elbow deep in the details of real life and pretend such a room doesn’t exist. Our families need to see us striving towards personal goals. It is healthy, even crucial, for our children to view us as mothers and  as individuals. So, start now. Write down your hopes and dreams. Brainstorm ways to accomplish them.

A central demand of living deliberately, of cutting a path through life to take you exactly where you want to be, is to be brave enough to season your real life with the stuff of your dreams. This can be a delicate process; it is all too easy for kids and family responsibilities to wrinkle and soil what we deem precious. But keep trying. It is within our power to become the sort of mother and woman we have always dreamed of being.

I think we could all benefit from cleaning out the closet every now and then to clarify what it is we are striving for, both as families and individuals.

Decide What No Longer Fits
While the past is important, we cannot allow it to taint the present. I had a friend who, after years of marriage, still obsessed about a college boyfriend who was the quintessential romantic. He knew how to celebrate a woman on Valentine’s Day, which is to say, her husband wasn’t doing great in that department. This couldn’t have been healthy for her or her marriage. I’ve also known women who idealize the glory days of past athletic or academic accomplishments. But again, these glory days were rehashed at the expense of their current life. After becoming mothers, they lost track of their past interests. All they were left with was scrapbooks, whose sole function seemed to be a record of happier times.

Certainly these scrapbooks are worth saving, but we need to let go of the parts of our life that no longer feel like a good fit. As you “clean out your closet,” decide what doesn’t fit and let it go. Let go of anything that isn’t a good fit now. If there are elements of your old life that you truly miss, think of healthy ways you can add them back in.

Patch and Repair
It is impossible to move forward with purpose, to have your eyes set on your North Star, if you are too busy admiring the shiny patina of other people’s lives and accomplishments. The need to patch and repair, to focus on our own strengths, is especially true when it comes to our talents and abilities. All around me I see mothers who seemingly have more patience, more self-discipline, greater spirituality. As I negotiate the process raising my children, the temptation to peek over the back fence is strong. Intellectually, I know other mothers don’t always get it right either. But sometimes it feels like I’m attempting a really hard recipe and my kitchen cupboards are bare.

But remember, every mother has attributes and strengths that can shape her children and family into something incredible. So take pride in your work. Get comfortable in your own skin. Change your recipe, and improvise. As you try to maximize your talents, instead of wishing you were given something else, your children will feel the unmistakable branding that binds families together. This is who we are. We like to do this. This is what it means to be a member of our family!

Put Everything In It’s Place:
With three little girls I sometimes feel like I’m living in a doll house, and one day I snapped. Grabbing a Cabbage Patch Doll off the floor I hollered, “Put your dolls away. NOW!” My daughter looked up at me and asked, “Where?” I didn’t realize we had dolls on their beds, in the play room, and in the basement…so of course I was tripping over them all day long because they really were literally all over the house.

Even if you have goals established, even if you’re running as fast as you can, you’re bound to trip if the details of your life are scattered underfoot. It’s impossible to live deliberately if you haven’t laid plans for your own success. So, make lists. Designate family responsibilities. Establish priorities. Set routines. Buy a plastic bin and get the metaphorical dolls out from under your feet. You have to smooth the path ahead in order to effectively move forward.

QUESTION:   Which step of “cleaning out the closet” feels most relevant to your life right now?

CHALLENGE: Create a “Top Five” list or another, tangible record of your current goals.

Image by Amro at www.freedigitalphotos.net.

Enjoy Lauren’s blog at www.lauren-gillespie.blogspot.com

Save

Save

About Lauren Gillespie

The other day I was watching Superman with my family. As Clark Kent leaped to his feet and whipped off his glasses in preparation to transform into Superman, I thought to myself, that's exactly how most mothers feel! As an aspiring novelist, blogger and mother of three girls, there are a lot of days that I struggle with the same sort of costume-changing whiplash. One minute I'm working intently at my computer, the next minute I'm leaping to my feet to go save the carpet from spilled grape juice. Every day requires some amount of juggling in order to fulfill my goals as both a mother and writer, but truthfully, I wouldn't give up either job. I am a mother. I am a writer. I am a lover of bubble baths, hot cocoa and rain storms. I believe we come into the world with abilities and potential, many of our life-long loves already decided and inherently a part of us. But like Superman, it's what we do about it that determines our course. I also have my blog, Lauren Gillespie: My Life in Script.