When you’re making a significant change, it takes sustained energy and focus. This can be exhausting. When pursuing change, motivation is an essential ingredient. However, it’s not enough. Sometimes, you’ll need to act even when you don’t feel like it and your motivation is low or non-existent.

Taking action through small, consistent steps will facilitate the change you desire.

There is another aspect to proactive change that goes beyond desire, motivation, and action. It’s recognizing the powerful and energizing effect a brief pause has.

Last week, I wrote about capacity. The pause is connected to that idea. Consider how much stamina it takes to make a change in your life. Along that journey, which could take days, months, or years, the endurance needed won’t be sustainable without rest cycles.

Clients’ Organizing Goals

I admire my clients’ dedication to pursuing their organizational goals and making changes in their lives. There are weeks when things flow easily for them. At other times, it’s more challenging to activate and move forward. They don’t give up. I support them as they navigate the change process. They balance the intense periods of action with taking breaks. They’ll step away briefly and then return.

The power of their pause is noticeable. After their hiatus, clarity, energy, and determination return. The downtime creates space to breathe, rejuvenate, and refocus.

My Big Changes

You may recall how the pandemic influenced significant changes for my organizing business, Oh, So Organized! In 2020, after almost thirty years of working in-person with clients, I pivoted to offer virtual services only. My organizing company helps overwhelmed individuals challenged by disorganization get unstuck and organized with nonjudgmental, personalized one-on-one sessions, workshops, and publications.

I’ve led workshops for decades. Most of those were hosted by other companies or industry associations. However, in 2022, I started sponsoring my own workshops. I’ve hosted four since then and plan to offer two more this year. It’s been a positive change that I’m still exploring.

In the first quarter of 2024, I had four workshops scheduled, one of which I hosted. I’ve already given three and was invited to present next month for Denise Wenacur’s Design Lab. These changes have been exciting yet intense because of the deadlines.

“To sustain the pursuit of the changes you seek, step away from doing to recharge.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

A Gentle Pause

Do you remember I mentioned how my clients balance their change pursuits with taking breaks? Well, I’m no different. I integrate breaks, too. And luckily, in the last few weeks, we’ve had some beautiful snowfall in the Hudson Valley. You may wonder how snow and pausing connect.

These particular snows were incredibly peaceful, covering the landscape in white and making the quiet feel even quieter. I loved pausing to watch the snow steadily fall to the ground. It was meditative and made me feel calm and relaxed. Watching the gently floating snowflakes encouraged me to appreciate the moment and temporarily disengage from my projects. Observing was enough of a break to help me reset, energize, and prepare for the next step.

Weird Facts shared this idea about the quiet a fresh snow brings:

“Fresh snow absorbs sound, lowering ambient noise over a landscape because the trapped air between snowflakes attenuates vibration. That’s why it gets so quiet when it snows.”

Don’t underestimate the power of a pause. To sustain the pursuit of the changes you seek, step away from doing to recharge. Pause and see the snow descend, take a coffee break, or go away for a few days. You’ll be happy you did.

What type of pause benefits you? How does it help you pursue the changes you want?

Help is Here

If you are in the midst of change and want assistance, I’m here to help. Please email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or click here to schedule a Discovery Call. Change is doable, especially with support.

This is the newest release (v43) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature, with my latest finds that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. These unique, inspiring, fresh start discoveries reflect this month’s blog theme.

You are a passionate, generous, and engaged group. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing presence, positive energy, and contributions to this community. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced.

What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? – 5 Best Fresh Start Discoveries

1. Interesting Workshop – Clutter-Free Fresh Start

Do you feel overwhelmed with the clutter and disorganization in your life? If you answered “yes,” you’re not alone. Help is here! The New Year is an excellent time to change how you approach decluttering and organization.

Join me, Linda Samuels, Professional Organizer, for an empowering workshop – My Simple Organizing Plan, on Thursday, February 8th, from 7:00-8:00 pm Eastern. Together, we’ll uncover the impact of clutter, master motivation, and create a personal decluttering plan.

During this one-hour Zoom workshop, you’ll come away with a transformative, ready-to-implement strategy to make immediate positive changes in your life. Say goodbye to chaos and hello to a calmer, organized you. Reserve your spot now!

2. Interesting Trend – Immersive Fresh Start

Color drenching is a design trend that has emerged in recent years. Amy Wax, an internationally recognized color expert, describes a color-drenched interior as “designed with one color in mind, and that color doesn’t just coat the walls…it’s everywhere…a real color-drenched interior means that the ceiling, trim, railings, doors, and sometimes even the floor all have the same color.”

Are you wondering about the connection between the color-drenching trend and a fresh start? I thought you might. Words describing this trend include daring, saturated, adventurous, all-consuming, harmonizing, sensual, and calming. As you begin this New Year and embrace your fresh start, which words speak to you? Do you want more adventures and boldness, or would you like more calm and harmony? Select a theme to ‘drench’ your year that can be a guiding force for your choices and goals. What color or word speaks to you?

3. Interesting Read – Peaceful Fresh Start

Do you desire a more peaceful, calmer life? We now have 24-7 access to people, places, and things. Life has become complicated, noisy, and distracting.  

A Simpler Life – A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity by The School of Life provides a path to “the simpler lives we crave and deserve.” We’re at an unusual juncture where the yearning for simplicity is historically reasonably new. “We long to unburden ourselves of excess, to have more straightforward relationships, to declutter our homes, and to avoid noise, complexity, and fuss. Simplicity has grown central to our vision of happiness.”

The book focuses on five areas to simplify- relationships, social life, lifestyle, work, and culture. If your fresh start includes the desire to release the excess, you’ll appreciate the suggestions explored. “Simplicity isn’t so much a life with a few things and commitments in it, as a life with the right, necessary things, attuned to our flourishing. Our lives will feel – and be – simpler when we’ve probed our minds to yield…the knowledge of what we truly want.”

“Your fresh start is ready for you to lean in, activate, and thrive.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

4. Interesting Product – Focused Fresh Start

During a session with one of my virtual organizing clients, she showed me an adorable gift she purchased for the holidays. Toast is marketed as a night light. However, she and a few of her friends use it differently. They turn it on to help them focus when working. It has a warm, dimmable glow, an adjustable timer, and a ‘friendly’ face.

I couldn’t resist, so I purchased a mint green one to see if it would help me. To my delight, it does. As a matter of fact, while writing this post, I brought my Toast nearby to keep me company and hold my attention. I didn’t use the timer feature, but I found the gentle light worked for me.

Check out this little fellow if you want your fresh start to include more focused work and improved concentration.

5. Interesting Thought – Promising Fresh Start

What is the best thing about the New Year? It allows you to reset, rethink, and reimagine how you want the next twelve months to be. If you want to make tiny tweaks or strive for those big, audacious goals, you have the spaciousness to make things happen. Let go of what doesn’t work, learn from your mishaps, and activate the hope-filled ‘blank canvas’ the New Year brings. Your fresh start is ready for you to lean in, activate, and thrive.

Do you have an interesting, fresh start-related discovery? Which of these resonates with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Here’s to you and a happy, healthy, joy-filled, and organized New Year!

Do you love the surprise of reading fortune cookie fortunes? I do. Recently, I got one I want to share with you, which I will do momentarily. Cookie fortunes vary a lot. Some don’t resonate or make sense. Others are so timely or hope-filled that they become ‘keepers.’

As you begin a new month and year, anything you discover to inspire or encourage your fresh start is worth exploring.

Often, I’ve noticed how the start of a project or a change you want to make is the most challenging. Imagine rooms filled with paper piles, non-functioning closets overflowing with clothes, or schedules packed so tightly there is no time to breathe.

Figuring out where or how to start can be overwhelming and prevent you from moving forward. You remain bothered and stuck by the clutter in your space, calendar, or mind. The clutter weighs heavily on your thoughts.

enter the fortune cookie wisdom . . .

“Begin...the rest is easy.”

— Fortune Cookie

Perhaps that seems too simplistic. Play around with the phrase to make it more authentic for you.

How about:

• Begin…the rest is doable.

• Begin…the rest is possible.

• Begin…the rest will happen.

• Begin…the rest is achievable.

• Begin…the rest is within reach.

• Begin…the rest is manageable.

• Begin…the rest is ______.

I encourage you to begin. Take a small action step toward the project or change you desire. Maybe that means editing one tiny pile of papers, removing the additional hangers in your closet, or hiring an accountability partner or professional organizer like me. The operative word is, begin.

I’ve seen over and over the positive energy and momentum that come from taking the first minuscule steps toward your goal. I encourage you to lean into the fortune cookie wisdom. Just begin. If you aren’t sure how or where to start, reach out. I’d love to help you activate and work on your 2023 goals. How can I help?

How are your new year and fresh start going? Have you made progress, or are you feeling stuck? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Have you ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, and unsure about how to move forward? If so, you’re not alone. It’s fascinating how, when you’re in that stuck mode, time seems to slow down like the speed of molasses dripping from a spoon. It can feel challenging to activate and figure out what to do next. When you’re in an overwhelmed-and-stuck-headspace, negative thoughts can pile on, adding another layer of complication.

This ‘stuck’ place is often the starting point for my virtual organizing clients. One of my greatest joys is facilitating change so my clients can reach their goals and focus on what is most important to them. When my clients make time with me to think, question, and process, it gives them the space to find their way forward. Recently, I worked with clients to create portable workspaces, refine paper management and workflow systems, establish time and scheduling boundaries, prioritize to-do lists, and declutter spaces that had been piled for years.

If you find yourself in this overwhelmed, stymied place and are unsure how to move forward, the first step is identifying it. Then acknowledge this is an area for growth and say, “That’s my work.”

Stop beating yourself up. Refrain from going into negative self-talk or black and white thinking with “I’ll never get organized” or “I’m always going to be overwhelmed.” Stop perpetuating untruths.

“That’s my work.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD, CVOP™

Instead, see where you are stuck and simply, gently, and matter-of-factly repeat, “That’s my work.” It’s your opportunity to develop. What you choose to do next might be breathing and decluttering one big pile. Or, you might decide to enlist help from a trusted family member, friend, or professional organizer like me. Having a buddy as you sort, edit, and ponder can be valuable.

However you choose to move ahead when you’re bothered, stuck, or overwhelmed, remind yourself, “That’s my work.” Then lean in and seize the opening to make a change. It’s time. You can find your way forward.

How do you respond when you are stuck? Do you go it alone or reach out for help? What helps you move forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.