“Can you live with a total of 33 items of clothing and accessories for 90 days?”

I’ve been claiming for years that I want to live more simply, to have less stuff distracting me, and to feel more empowered and free.  Truth is it’s a constant practice of revisiting what matters most to me at any given point in my life.

I’d been eagerly waiting for the screening of, “Minimalism – A Documentary About the Important Things”, and finally saw it this past Wednesday.   I left inspired to move closer to the simplicity I crave to create more ease, more time, more space in my mind and home.  And not just simplicity for simplicity’s sake.   Simplicity in being mindful that each choice I make creates my future.

As we drove around in the steaming heat here in the Northeast today, I was sharing with my family how I needed a bigger challenge.  I’m always decluttering and simplifying, but I needed something more specific and quickly measurable.   My 10 yr. old daughter, who saw the film with us, reminded me of Project 333 that Courtney Carver talks about in the film.

Project 333 is a fashion challenge where you choose only 33 items to live with and wear for the next 3 months.  This includes accessories, outerwear (shoes/coats), and clothes.

This is a HUGE challenge for me as I own lots of clothes – in my dresser drawers, my bedroom closet, downstairs in bins, and hanging upstairs on a rack (includes coats). To be transparent, I’ve been out of corporate for almost 10 years and I saved a lot that I used to wear, but haven’t worn most since. Not to mention it may not even fit the same, if at all.

But I said I needed something big.  And for me – this is BIG!
Even though I declutter and clear spaces for others, it’s still an area I personally need to revisit constantly.

I’m choosing to document my experience to be accountable to myself, and in hopes to inspire you to live more simply too!

The next few days will be spent sorting, discarding and choosing my final 33 items for the next 90 days.    Starting June 1st, I’ll be living with my lucky 33.

If you haven’t seen the film Minimalism, check out www.theminimalsists.com to locate a screening near you.  (There’s one in Cherry Hill on June 16th!) And if you want more information about this challenge, check out Courtney’s site, www.theproject333.com, or her main site www.bemorewithless.com.

So, how about you?   Has this inspired you to dig a little deeper into your closets and see what transformations result?

If you’re inspired to change, share what you did and what happened as a result.  If you think this article would be helpful to someone, by all means, share it!

It’s critical we pay attention to our intuitive hits, the first time.

Ever feel like you’re starting from scratch on something that you thought you had under control?  Whether it’s your weight, quieting your inner critic, getting into physical shape, or changing the way you eat?

Ever wonder why we experience those setbacks in the first place?   Where we find ourselves asking, “How did I get HERE again?” Me too.   For me, it’s about true alignment.  It’s about knowing when to say yes, and when to say no, on your *first* intuitive hit.

Several years ago I was exercising at least 4-5 times a week with yoga, walking, weights, etc, and my body and mind felt alive, connected – I was passionate in my world.  I felt a sense of freedom and curiosity about life that I hadn’t experienced for a long time.

Around this time I took on a job that started off flexible.  As time went on, my intrinsic desires for organizing and managing seeped through and I found myself responsible for a lot more than I was initially hired for.  I wanted to change all the processes that were inefficient or ineffective.  My job required working every weekend and holidays.  I missed chunks of family time.  My sitters did homework with my daughter.  My kid was sick a lot.  I was sick a lot.   My diet was poor.  I was stressed, spent, and overwhelmed.  I wasn’t exercising because I was working.  I no longer liked going to work.

I was totally out of alignment.    I knew it in my core.

As universe would have it, I fell – hard on both knees onto rocks – and knocked myself physically out of alignment, making it feel almost impossible to continue doing my job.

What now though?   I made decent money.   I was accomplishing my financial goals.  But I was sick.  My family was often sick.  And now I was hurt on top of it. Energetically, the fall forced me out.  I had to heal.

I had a fracture in my back from falling, though I didn’t know it at the time.   All I knew was I was in some serious pain and my reflective impulse was to push through any physical discomfort because I didn’t see another way out.  That’s just what I did.   Even though I knew I was out of alignment in my work, I continued pushing through the pain.  Until I couldn’t anymore.

Falling was a massive wake up call.  And it gave me back me.

But I had to be ready to embrace me, and realized I didn’t know who that was anymore.  So here I was AGAIN – creating, cultivating, re-birthing me.

I was in that space that Nancy Levin calls, “the space between no longer and not yet.”  And I was on a MAJOR course correction.

I admit I stayed in anger and resentment far longer than was healthy, or necessary.  I feel into self-pity too.

But now, I’m grateful.  I’m back in alignment with what’s true for me today, right now.

While I could’ve saved myself a lot of time, energy, and well-being if I’d stopped to look at my choices sooner, none of it was a mistake.

There is no wrong choice.  There’s simply a consequence of our action.  We choose – there’s a result.   Period.

It’s what we do with those results when they’re not what we thought they’d be.  What do we do when we need to course correct?   Do we self-sabotage like I did for several months?   Do we lay in self pity and blame?   I did that too.  It served no one, especially me.

How about you?    What do you do now that you’ve realized you’re so far off course and it feels it’s going to take lightyears to get back to where you were?   Or to where you think you now want to be?

You take one step.  Then another.  Then another.

So I ask you…   Where do you need to make a course correction?  Where are you out of alignment?  What intuitive hunches have you been ignoring?

I invite you to share comments below and invite you to move from self-sabotage to self-empowerment.

What’s your first step?

Has this been helpful to you?   If so, please share it!