I find the topic of minimalism absolutely fascinating, mainly because I always feel like I’m on a quest to remove clutter to live a wealthier, more free & peaceful life.
I will tell you, I was born a maximalist. My immersion into the world of minimalism did not come easy or natural. It was a skill I had to learn.
So if the thought of living with less gives you anxiety, y’all, I feel you. Like how can I live without a dozen cute coffee mugs, 20 pairs of leggings & 30 pairs of shoes?! 😱
The connection between clutter & weight gain
Clutter is defined as “a collection of things lying about in an untidy mass.” But lately, with all the talk on minimalism & doing away with excess stuff, we’ve come to realize that clutter is more than just the physical & tangible things.
There is a deep connection between our stuff & our weight. The more clutter & crap we hoard can be directly correlated to the quality of health we enjoy.
The connection between clutter & weight gain is that body fat & clutter both act as protective layers to help people to feel less emotionally vulnerable. However, the stagnant energy that accumulates around both causes a feeling of stuckness that can be very frustrating & restrictive.
Many of my clients have told me over the years how much easier it is to focus on dieting their home instead of dieting their body. And the great thing is that when they start looking after their environment more, they naturally feel more inclined to look after themselves better too. As one woman put it, “After you have cleared the junk out of your home, it doesn’t feel quite right to keep putting junk food in your body.”
A recent study has found that “stressful & chaotic food environments” influence people to reach for high-calorie snacks. In effort to determine the impact of mindset & environment on eating, researchers from Cornell University invited around 100 women to write about a time they felt out of control, neutral, or organized, then eat snacks in kitchens that were either cluttered or orderly. They discovered that participants who were in a more chaotic mindset in the messy kitchen consumed more cookies than those in the tidy space.
My personal experience on declutterring
I noticed as I started decluttering, not only did I feel more peace & clarity, I also felt lighter — physically, energetically, & emotionally. My finances got better. I felt I could truly focus on what was most important & fulfilling to me in life (most being affordable & free).
I used to be Velcro to clutter. I loved to shop, I loved to fill my life with things & a busy schedule & a go, go, go mentality. And then after a while, it kind of just hit me.
As I started traveling more & more as a travel radiologic technologist, I’d get anxiety with each move because of all the sh*t I had. I had to move it all. Every. Time. It took time & energy.
Do I really need all this? Does it really make me happier? Hotter? Healthier? More worthy? More successful? More loved?
From a young age, I would have something called FOMO, fear of missing out. If I wasn’t invited to something, or if I didn’t have the biggest piece of cake & my brothers had bigger pieces than I had that FOMO.
And probably in my late 30s, I realized that more was not always more, & that I could actually have more meaning & more beauty in life if I could focus on finding the more in the less. I mastered this way of living into my 40s.
And so clutter, most of us think of it as tangible. It is all the things. AND it’s not just all the tangible things.
We carry a lot of mental & emotional clutter as well. And the mental clutter, those are really inauthentic thoughts that we & life should be different. And when we have those thoughts, we experience resistance or we experience such heaviness that that’s another form of clutter.
And so clutter to me is anything that gets between you & showing up the way you really want to or you & the best version of your life, you & the life you want to live.
As human beings, we get really distracted. And we are drawn to the idea of complication. The more complicated, the better. (WRONG.)
Minimalism is about removing all of the clutter so that you can focus on the things that matter most, getting rid of those distractions so that you can hone in on the most beautiful & powerful aspects of your life.
It will take some intentionality. It will really take sitting down & being honest with yourself.
Sometimes that could be relationships. I would imagine you know different circles that you might be floating around in that may not be the healthiest or the most supportive or the most positive.
So sometimes it’s removing people & relationships from your life. It can be removing an ideal of “relationships” you’ve had yourself boxed into.
I had this discussion with my bestie today on this very topic. As a happy, successful, self-loving, confident, self-partnered woman, I don’t feel the white picket fence “traditional relationship” works for me anymore.
I enjoy being in my own company & energy so much, the thought of cohabitating full time with another almost makes me cringe. I’ll admit it.
I love relationships & deep connection & companionship, but I don’t feel seeking “A relationship” or “The relationship” or “The One” applies to my needs today like it did for my fairytale loving 20 & 30 something self.
I’m open & excited for relationships & connection divinely meant for me. But now, I know I attract these people & opportunities.
I have so much peace & space in my life for amazing projects, creativity, collaboration, adventures, experiences, jobs, & new skills not constantly SEEKING a relationship.
Do you realize we can get most of the feelings we desire of being heard, seen, understood, fulfilled & loved from anyone?! Friends, partners, coworkers, strangers, clients, family, as well as yourself. These feelings don’t always have to come from someone you’re romantically involved.
The weight & food connection…
When I was in middle school I had a teacher tell me I was “too big to be a cheerleader.” That I needed to lose weight & do something else. Harsh af, but she was actually was right. I was overweight at 160 on a 5ft frame.
You can read about my carnivore weight loss story here in this blog.
A magical question, just two words.
What if?
What if I address my diet? What if I do things differently?
And of course I had the thought, I don’t eat that bad. And I thought, what if I could eat better? So no judgment.
What if I could eat smarter? What if I could be better to my hormones? What if I could love myself more? What if I could eat & move more lovingly & intentionally?
And so I changed my lifestyle.
I have Crohn’s disease. After a couple weeks of changing my diet to a more carnivore based approach all of my autoimmune conditions & gut flares had subsided.
And I thought, gosh, if I can feel this good, how good could it get? I’m gonna keep going with this food, this new food approach. I’m gonna focus on health & heal.
I realized a lot of the foods that I was eating, like rice & gluten & breads & high fiber stuff — those foods were just cluttering up my body & cluttering up my potential.
As a functional nutritionist & weight loss coach, I’ve heard many clients say, “Oh I cheated. One cheat day turned into a cheat weekend.”
And I remind them that word comes with so much baggage — mental baggage & emotional baggage.
So instead, we like to use the term experimented. That’s what we’re doing, really. We experimented, got some more data on how we felt after eating or making certain choices, & that helps us sometimes see the blessing in a setback.
It creates more lightness, because prior to that experience, you might not have known. And now, you know.
Just like dating 😂
Food clutter
Instead of saying “Eat this way” or “that way” I prefer to help somebody become the expert of their own body & the symptoms that they’re feeling. This includes what foods fill them with energy & what foods fill them with shame & frustration.
Because it’s those foods that are yummy in the moment, but then fill us with the heavy negative feelings & physical symptoms to release. Those are the clutter.
We focus on 3 different areas: clutter in the mind, clutter in the body, & then clutter in the home.
When we’re stuck in our thoughts or we’re stuck in our feelings, or we’re literally physically stuck in a lot of clutter, it does prevent us from really taking the next steps needed to go in the direction that we really want and desire to go in.
FOMO to JOMO
Something beautiful happened…
My FOMO over just a matter of months slipped to something called JOMO — the joy of missing out.
So for me, that joy was, oh, I like the way my body feels. I like the way my clean space feels. I like having mental real estate to think about what I want to think about that’s meaningful.
I like waking up with energy. I like that I don’t have to take medication to control gut flares. I like the feeling of not being bloated and inflamed.
And so do I miss eating cake & sugar & French fries & bagels full of gluten? No, I don’t. Because I like the JOMO on the negative side effects better.
So let’s all join the no clutter club!
Its not about not enjoying life or luxuries, its about investing in what means the most to you. It’s all about releasing the clutter: the mental, the emotional, the physical clutter in life so that we can show up light & happy & healthy!
As Marie Kondo would ask, “Does this bring you joy?”
If it makes you feel light, then it’s right. 😉
Oxox Coach K
Like blogs like these? Come adventure & get FIT with me!
Katie Kelly is a nutritionist, writer, travel registered radiologic technologist, Indiana farmer’s daughter, Crohn’s warrior, experience collector, and athlete of life. Former hot mess down 60lbs + financially free with nothin’ but an airfryer & a prayer. Location: Aging gracefully somewhere between scrubs & steak.
On social, she’s better known as Coach K, but most of all wants you to know she’s struggled just like you. More importantly, she wants you to believe in yourself, your health, your voice, & your ability to live your best life!
