Declutter Your Soul & Find Freedom

Consider going beyond decluttering your house and declutter your soul. What can you clean out of your life? What needs to be removed from your soul to make room for the good?

Why Should You Declutter Your Soul?

Decluttering our souls of stresses and junk that we’ve allowed to store up for years can relieve burdens we didn’t even know we were carrying. 

While cleaning out the junk from our garages and closets can be freeing, what many of us need to do is declutter our souls.

The new year (and new decade) and is a natural time to do this, but any time of the year is perfect for a fresh start

Things to Declutter from Your life

Look through this list and pick two or three issues in your life that you need to declutter from your life. 

Or use the list as a jumping-off point of issues you know you need to work on this year. 

  • toxic relationships
  • negative thoughts
  • people-pleasing
  • obsessive thinking
  • too many commitments
  • gossiping about other people
  • spending too much time on social media
  • overcommitting yourself
  • blaming others for your situation
  • feelings of anger, victimization, or sadness
  • playing the blame game
  • let some friendships go that aren’t serving you anymore
  • picking on your children
  • feeling guilty
  • trying to be perfect
  • setting aside your feelings for others
  • lack of exercise
  • procrastination 
  • avoiding church, honest relationships, quiet time with God
  • overworking
  • worrying about money but not facing the situation head-on
  • not taking the time to prepare healthy meals
  • avoiding an awkward conversation or phone call
  • spending money you don’t have
  • drinking too much
  • yelling at your children
  • putting yourself last

We all struggle with multiple issues on this list, but using that as an excuse means you’ll never make any positive changes in your life. 

Where to start

We have to start small. 

Starting small is similar to how I like to declutter my house. I choose a couple of areas in my house to declutter. I select those areas that I enjoy spending the most time in.

I don’t try to declutter my entire home, just a couple of areas, and I focus on those areas. 

Once those areas are looking good, I enjoy the corner of my bedroom, for example, once it’s spruced up. Maybe it’ll inspire me to declutter another area. If not, it’s okay. I celebrate that area. 

For our lives, we can approach it the same way. We’ll never achieve perfection here on earth. Perfection shouldn’t be our aim, but it also shouldn’t scare us away from even trying. 

Related: Creating an Inviting Home for Single-Parent Families

Strategy to decluttering your life

Pick a couple of areas to focus on decluttering your life this year. If needed, find resources and support to walk you through your journey. 

identify your goals.

How do you plan on working through your identified issue? Come up with 3-5 actionable items you can check off throughout the year — Check-In with yourself each month. 

Replacement Theory

Secondly, when you declutter a behavior from your life, you’ll want to replace it with something positive. Not only does this help keep your mind occupied, but it can also be a great incentive. 

Depending on what you’re replacing, the reward or the activity will vary. For example, if you’re replacing a relationship, an award may not cut it. You may need new friends and experiences to replace the time you previously spent with that person, at least initially, such as joining a church or meetup. 

If you’re trying to quit gossiping, then you’ll want to replace the times you’re tempted to gossip with new activities. Maybe you often gossip at work during lunch. If so, perhaps you could start walking during your lunch hour. 

Positive Habits to Add into Your Life

Look through these positive activities and see which ones you could add to your life. Or come up with your own. 

  • Bible journaling
  • Repeat affirmations
  • Join a church
  • Begin quiet time with God each day
  • Find a local meet up
  • Get involved in a local charity
  • Grow something in your garden
  • Begin daily gratitude walks
  • Turn your phone off at a specific time each day
  • Read books before bed
  • Take more baths
  • Learn to dance
  • Cook homemade meals 
  • Go to a therapist
  • Establish a morning routine
  • Incorporate more rest into each day
  • Read your Bible each day
  • Give more of your time
  • Give more of your money
  • Spend quality time with your kids each day
  • Enjoy Sabbath each week

Ways to Declutter Your Soul

Try one new practice a month.

Experts say it takes anywhere from 21-66 days to form a new habit.

One idea is to try out a new positive activity each month. One a month at least makes it easy to remember, if not scientific. It gives you time to get used to the action and make it a habit.

If, after a month, you decide it isn’t a habit you want to make a part of your life, you can say you gave it a fair shake.

Drop one lousy habit each week.

Bob Goff, the author of Love Always quits one thing every Thursday. Try asking yourself what isn’t serving you each week. 

Add Positive habits into a Goal tracker

Find the guide below from inside the Single Mom Toolbox to plan out how you’ll declutter your soul in your goals

Positive Mindset Challenge

Join the 21-day Mindset challenge as a perfect way to declutter your soul from negativity. Each day you’re provided with a small, actionable assignment to reinforce positivity into your life. 

Declutter Your Soul & Find Freedom