A Personal Story

I want to share my own recent clutter busting experience. 

A couple of weeks ago my wife, stepson, and I decided to go dog shopping. We went to a pet shelter and looked at the dogs. We found a dog that the three of us loved.

We brought the dog home that day. It was exciting. The dog seemed like a perfect fit. He wasn't a barker. He played gently. He was comfortable in our home. We loved having him there.

That night my wife and I put his cage in our bedroom so he wouldn't feel alone. The dog got in his cage, plopped down and fell asleep. My wife and I went to bed and fell asleep in minutes.

I woke up around one am and my lungs felt tight. I figured I was being effected by the dog, but thought maybe it was just a temporary thing. I got up and slept in the guest room. I woke up in the morning with a headache, burning lungs, tight breathing, and itching face.

I thought, "Oh, no, I'm really allergic to the dog!"

I thought that it would break my wife and stepson's hearts, not to mention my own, to let the dog go. So, I tried enduring the allergy symptoms that day, hoping they would pass.

My wife and stepson knew I was suffering, but went along with my wanting to wait it out and see if I would get better.

My symptoms got worse. I felt lousy.

Still I thought, "I can't let this dog go. We all love him. I'll just endure this and be okay. I don't want to let everyone down." At the same time, I knew that it was hurting me to live that way, and that it wasn't going to get better.

I was confused and didn't know what to do.

That afternoon I worked with a client on Skype. When I help someone clutter bust, my intuition opens up in a big way.

During the clutter bust, my intuition said to me about the dog situation, "This isn't working for me!"

I thought about how I tell clients that it's okay to say, "No" to something that hurts. When some thing, person or activity causes us pain in some way, it's clutter and doesn't have a place in our lives.

When I finished the session, I told my wife that we had to let the dog go. She was hurt, but understood. We drove the dog back to the pet shelter.

This was a powerful clutter bust for me because I had to consider myself in a very confusing situation. What got me through it was the realization that it was most important to take care of myself.