Letting Go With All Your Might -- Loss, Change & Grief

Kim Wolinski, MSW
Dr. DeClutter www.DrDeClutter.com

I have worked with several clients who have lost parents, spouses, siblings, children and friends... through long-term illness, accidents, suicide and other reasons... and now have all their "stuff." Has this happened to you?

Depending on the level of grief you are feeling, organizing, cleaning out and/or getting ready for an estate sale can be more than overwhelming. Many times the articles just stay in the basement, closet, garage, attic or storage unit for months and years before it can be moved.

If you find yourself in a situation like this,
1. Take care of yourself first always. Loss is so very hard sometimes and rushing to get rid of stuff can be a mistake creating regrets and more grief and sadness later.
2. Give yourself time, but not forever. Plan to start the process as soon as you begin to feel better.
3. Ask for support to clean everything out.
4. Ask family to come and go through items and take what they want, or what is disignated to them to help move it out.
5. If you have family and friends who can enjoy the process by honoring the person who has passed on, do so. Have a celebration and remember good times and your loved one.
6. Keep only what really belongs in your space. Too much can be a burden and never really fit in your space, energy and environment.

PLAN AHEAD
If you have parents who are aging and can't take care of everything anymore, or who are close to dying, help them to divide their possessions up by naming, claiming and labeling items for whomever they want to give them to. My grandmother did this and it was a great help to her children. Each one of us grandchildren received items with our names taped to the back or bottom and a little note of the history of the item as well. Great idea!

And...life is for the living. We will all leave the planet someday, and we certainly have no idea exactly when. Unless it's your "curse" on them!... make sure to be kind to your kin and starting organizing and cleaning out now so that they don't end up with overwhelm too!!

Life’s too short to keep dealing with the same piles and heaps – Inside and Out!

This workbook is being used by counselors and therapists with their clients around the world the country. To ORDER Letting Go With All Your Might, A guide to life transitions, change, choices and effective redecisions Workbook, go to http://www.redecisionsinstitute.com/kims_store.html Packed with stories, over 40 exercises, Kim's original 11-Stage ReDecisions Model for Change, over 100 inspiring, funny and thought-provoking quotations and more.

©2006 Kim Wolinski, MSW “Dr. DeClutter”Stress, Change and Organizational Skills Expert

Need help getting your space (house, office, barn, backyard – thoughts, mind, time, schedule, priorities, or life) decluttered and re- organized? My new video “BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN, AND OTHER ORGANIZING TIPS AND TOOLS FROM DR. DECLUTTER” is a great help. You can find out more or order BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN and other products at http://www.redecisionsinstitute.com/kims_store.html

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