I wanna tell you something right now. 

Something that, for the past few weeks, I’ve found myself repeating to multiple clients.  Something that you probably already know, at least logically.  

This whole process of getting organized? 

 It can make you feel like the biggest loser on the planet.  

Like a complete and utter failure.  

Worthless.  

Defeated. 

Pathetic. 

It can make you think the absolute worst of yourself and beat yourself up for all the things you haven’t done or should’ve done or could’ve been doing all along for the past decade, so you didn’t end up in the mess you’re currently buried in.  

It’s like you’ve got this evil troll who masquerades as the person you wish you were whispering in your ear.  Whispering why you won’t ever be able to change. Whispering how you’re the only one who lives this way.  Whispering so loudly about your undeniable failure that it blocks out all the other sounds in your life.  

So when you find yourself in this situation, what’s a girl (or guy) supposed to do? Just surrender to it?  Lie down and willingly drown in the mess?   

Heck. No.

When you feel yourself on the brink of wanting to burn down your house or throw yourself in front of a bus, I need you to remember these five things.

Five Things to Remember When Getting Organized Makes You Feel Like a Failure

1. You’ve gotta stop beating yourself up so much.  

For real.  Stop it.  Like, right now.  

Whatever horrible thing you believe about yourself, nip that thought in the bud immediately.  

IMMEDIATELY. 

If your home is a mess, all that means is that your home is a mess.  It says nothing about your character or your value.  

It’s just a fact.  

Grass is green, and your house is messy.  

2. Those negative thoughts in your head aren’t always necessarily yours. 

You know that evil troll whispering in your ear?  Yeah, he’s real, and his name is Satan.  

And he’s a dirty liar.  

A liar who is so stinkin’ good at his craft that he can find the teeniest morsel of truth (you know, like maybe you’re a little messy) and truss it up so expertly that he’s got you believing you have absolutely nothing to offer the world and should just step in front of that bus right now.  

Tell him to shut up and leave you alone.  

For real.  That’s biblical.  James 4:7 says,

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Sometimes you have to resist him 37 times a minute.  

3. It’s okay if the whole process makes you feel sick.

Change is hard.  Doing something new feels yucky.  Even when it’s good for you.  Especially when it’s good for you. 

Getting organized can be extra tough if it means having to let go of things that have been in your life for a while.   

It’s perfectly normal to be torn between wanting to purge all the crap that’s weighing you down and still really loving most of said crap.  There’s nothing wrong with that struggle.   

The thing you have to remember though is that just because you’re struggling with it doesn’t mean you should avoid it or surrender to it.  

You need to meet that struggle head on.  Feel whatever you’ve gotta feel.  Throw up as much as you need to throw up.  And do what needs to be done.   

Remember that dirty liar we were talking about before?  His job is to hold us back, and one big way he likes to do that is to manipulate our emotions.   Because of this, we’ve always got to err on the side of truth instead of our feelings.   

4. Your expectations are WAY too high.

Seriously, TOO. HIGH.  

I hate to break it to you but you’re not gonna gut your entire house in one day.   You’re not going to be able to clean out your deceased mother’s home in one weekend. And you’re surely not going to be able to plow through five years of paperwork in a few hours.  

Unfortunately, it’s not always as simple as looking at an item and saying keep or not keep.  Way more often than not, there are a ton of emotions and memories attached to that item that you may need to work through and talk out.

You’re going to get tired. 

 You’re going to get frustrated.  

You’re going to feel ALL. THE. THINGS. 

Build in time to be able to walk away from it.  Thinking you’re just going to be able to power through it is unrealistic. 

Honestly, most people are good for about two to three hours, and THAT’S AWESOME.  

Working in small chunks is good for a whole bunch of reasons!  You don’t burn yourself out.  You only have to maintain a small area of progress at a time.  You’ve still got time to do other stuff.  

The process of getting organized is indeed a process.  Sure, you want it to be instantaneous just like I wanna eat well for 3.5 hours and my pants be loose!  Unfortunately, that’s not how life works. 

5. Let God fight this battle for you. 

We’ve already established that the devil is gonna try to niggle his way into this whole process, so we need to make room for God in there too!  God wants to fight our battles for us!  Exodus 14:14 blatantly states that exact thing--

“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

Did you hear that? 

The Lord HIMSELF will fight for you.  Just stay calm. 

The Lord will fight for you when you’re struggling in your marriage.  The Lord will fight for you when you’re struggling with your weight.  The Lord will fight for you when you’re struggling with organization.  

I could go on and on. 

The point is THE. LORD. HIMSELF. WILL. FIGHT. FOR. YOU.  

He fights, and we stay calm.

It’s that staying calm part that’s the kicker, right?  Because staying calm means that we cling to him like nobody’s business.  It means that we get out of His way.  It means we let Him do His thing in His way in His time. 

Y’all, getting organized isn’t always as cut and dry as we like to think it is.  Sometimes it makes us face things we’d rather ignore and deal with things we’d like to pretend don’t exist.  

And sometimes?  Sometimes it just makes us feel like complete crap.  Worthless.  Like a failure.  

I wanna tell you right now that you are NOT a failure.  You are NOT worthless.  And anytime those thoughts start to creep into your mind, you go back to that list up there.  Remembering those five things will go a long way towards finding success whether it be in organizing or anything else life throws at you.