A Time to Get Angry: Where to Start if You don't know Where to Start

I remember the feeling of overwhelm when looking at the basement. Box after box of useful, good items that we couldn't ever use because there was simply too much. Cowboy hats, extra blankets, and ten tubs of clothing literally smothered me. Don't even ask how many stuffed animals (do they reproduce in the night?).

Where to even start?

In those moments, I felt like I was paralyzed. I could not move forward in my life without tackling this mountain of "stuff-monsters." Yet, I could not move backwards either because I was surrounded by more boxes. 

 The guilt from all that stuff upon my mind and my heart still brings waves of anger. I get angry at a culture that  shoved all of this "stuff" upon me and upon you, with added dose of emotional guilt over the money spent or the family that would be offended if they knew I donated that item. 

Now is the time to get angry.

Maybe, it's time for anger because it's in that moment of disgust and righteous anger that you'll find the place to start. It's that inner fierce love and defensiveness of ourselves and our family which ignites courage. It's in rejecting the lies our culture has told us about what our lives should look like. 

We don't need five hundred pots and pans.

I have 3, small, medium, and large. That's it. 

We don't need markers, or crayons, or sixteen million different kinds of arts and crafts. 

My kids do just fine with colored pencils. That's it. 

We don't need more dishes.

My family has one plate per person. It works! 

Each of these categories are real examples. I was told I needed more of these items by people who thought that "more" would solve my problem of depression and a messy house.

Wrong! Incredibly wrong. 

In generations past, women were never left to handle a household plus babies plus running a business ALONE.  That's insanity. My fore-mothers had help in the form of close family connections and a full-fledged household staff.

Let's be realistic in understanding that we need more HELP and not more stuff.

When you don't know where to start, perhaps you should allow yourself to feel angry. Deep soul anger at the lies that have tempted you to waste your life chasing stuff you don't need. Be angry at a culture that has "sold" us all on the lie that we should do it all alone. Be completely "done" with the lies we have believed and even told ourselves. 

Instead, start here.

"I have enough." 

"I have enough creativity to use what I have in new ways." 

"I am enough in that I don't need to prove to anyone that I am intelligent and valuable to my family and community."  

"I have enough love and insight and solutions to build a business that serves and creates serious change for good in this world." 

Blessing, friend, for using your anger to start anew and rewrite the story of your home, your finances, and your businesses. It's time to start, right now, and pull our culture back from this insanity beginning today with our own hearts and homes. 

Always cheering you on,

Elizabeth