Midlife Confidence and Courage: How Decluttering Creates Space for Growth

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What if clearing out a drawer, a room, or even just one shelf could spark fresh energy in your life? In this solo episode, Kim shares her personal story of clearing out two rooms in her home—and the surprising clarity and motivation that followed. Discover how physical clutter impacts our mental and emotional energy, why decluttering is an act of courage, and how creating space in your home can lead to powerful action in other areas of your life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How clutter drains our energy and keeps us feeling stuck
• The connection between a clear space and a clear mind
• Why decluttering is especially powerful in midlife transitions
• Simple steps you can take to start clearing clutter today
• How making physical space can open doors for new confidence and courage

Takeaway:
Clearing clutter isn’t just about tidying up your home—it’s about releasing what no longer serves you so you can step boldly into your next chapter.

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Kim Benoy is a retired RN, Certified Aromatherapist, wife and mom who is passionate about inspiring and encouraging women over 40. She wants you to see your own beauty, value and worth through sharing stories of other women just like you.

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Episode Transcript

Kim (00:00):
Hello ladies.
Welcome back to Midlife WithCourage.
I'm Kim Benoy and today I wantto share something that
surprised me in a reallypowerful way.
Recently, I cleared out tworooms in my house.
You know, the kind of projectwhere you keep putting it off
'cause it's just toooverwhelming.

(00:20):
Well, I finally did it.
I noticed something unexpectedafter I did it.
Not only did my house feellighter, but I felt lighter too.
I had more clarity, more energy,and I even took big action in my
business afterwards.
So today I wanna talk about howclearing the physical space, the

(00:41):
physical clutter around us, canalso clear our energy.
And why that matters so much,especially for us in midlife.
If you've been feeling stuck,overwhelmed, or just ready for a
reset, this episode is for you.
Let's get started.
So, yes, this week I am sharingabout what happened in my house

(01:06):
this last week.
I actually had.
Two rooms that I, I reallyneeded to clear out.
I've been collecting stuff inboth of them.
One was my office and the otherwas our extra bedroom, which
full disclosure, that's thedog's room.
The dog sleep in there.
We have Jake's crate on one sideof the room, and then there's

(01:29):
actually a twin bed in therethat Pepper sleeps on.
She's 11 years old.
We kind of baby here a littlebit.
So anyway, she has her own bedand that room also was just
collecting stuff.
And I just had it in my, my mindand my heart to clear it out.
So I started with my officebecause a.
As you've kind of been hearingabout, I've been doing some

(01:51):
changes to the business.
I've been trying some new thingsand I needed to get a new
computer and all these things,and so I needed to clear out my
office, I had stuff in here fromChristmas, and it's already as
I'm recording this in September.
Just all sorts of stuff.
So I went through my desktop.

(02:11):
I went through, I have this olddresser that I, I redid.
I painted it, and that's where Istore my essential oils and some
other stuff there.
Anyway, I went througheverything and I just got rid of
a whole bunch of stuff.
I love putting things in thegarbage bag and taking it out.
I recycled all sorts of stuffand that felt so amazing and it

(02:32):
helped get me kind of going, asI needed to start doing some new
things with the business and mypodcast and everything.
And then last week I decided totackle the dog's room, and that
was.
It was really a mess.
It was really dusty.
I mean, two dogs sleeping inthere.
There's a lot of dog here andthere.
So I dusted and vacuumed.

(02:55):
But more importantly, I gotstuff outta there.
We had this old dresser that Ihad picked up at a garage sale,
and we had been putting inthings like my old work
paperwork, there was neonatalresuscitation from when I was a
labor delivery nurse.
Um, there was, you know, CPRcertificates, um, HR stuff from

(03:18):
all these jobs that I had had,and I didn't need any of it
anymore.
So I spent that the first dayjust going through there,
getting rid of everything Icould in there.
And I realized there was only afew things in that dresser, and
I probably didn't need thedresser either.
So.
That went out to the curb and onthe free page that was gone
within a few hours.

(03:40):
And that felt so good just toget a piece of stuff out of
there.
And it opened up space.
And then there's a little deskin there with my kids, you know,
my kids are grown up stuff inthere.
I went through some things,organized it, got rid of things.
Stored some stuff in a storageunit, which is not mine by the
way.
It belongs to my daughter, butgot rid of stuff.

(04:01):
She had her toy box in there.
We got rid of that yesterday.
Just all these things.
And oh my gosh, it felt so good.
So that was on Saturday and thenSunday.
I like to listen to podcast, ofcourse, and I listened to one
and it's got me thinking aboutmy podcast.
And I've been working on thisprogram that I wanna do for
women.
And these thoughts just keptflowing and coming, and I'm

(04:24):
writing things down and justseeing things better.
I have more clarity.
And it was amazing because Iknow the two things are
connected.
Clearing out that physical.
Clutter and stuff helped merelease some energy and get some
energy flowing and it's beenreally amazing and that's why I

(04:46):
wanted to share that with youbecause clutter can weigh on us.
You know, if you're walkingthrough your house and you see
these.
Not piles of stuff, but stuffthat you really don't need.
Maybe you look in your closetand there's clothes you haven't
worn for five years.
It just makes you feel heavy,mentally, emotionally, and
spiritually sometimes too.

(05:06):
And sometimes that just, like Isaid, it weighs you down and you
sometimes you get so overwhelmedyou don't know what to do, so
you just don't do anything.
You kind of stop.
So.
It's really important.
If you're trying to feel notstuck, look around you.
There might be something thatyou can do to help get that

(05:26):
energy going.
Maybe there's something that youstarted that you haven't
finished.
I knew I needed a new computer.
My computer couldn't even updatebecause it was so old.
So I knew I needed a new one,which also meant that I needed
some money.
So I had to figure that out.
Got that figured out.
And here I, I've got a newcomputer.
It's amazing how this can helpyou.

(05:47):
So when we're thinking aboutdecluttering.
Here are some great benefits ofdecluttering.
Mental clarity.
Like I said, same thing happenedto me.
There's less distraction.
You can make decisions easily ormore easily than you probably
could before.
There's an emotional releasetoo.
Letting go of some old thingscan free you from guilt, regret

(06:08):
or attachment.
Physical energy.
When you have a clean, openspace, you feel lighter and you
feel.
Like you can move better and youdo move better.
It gives you more energy andit's just more inviting.
I love, after I finish bothrooms, I love to stand in there
and just look around like, oh,this is amazing.
I can breathe in here.
It's amazing.

(06:29):
And then it gives you a momentumtaking action in your home or
wherever happens to be.
It spills over into takingaction in other things like your
business like happened with me.
Decluttering is not easy.
It is not as simple as I'm justgonna do it today and be done
with it.
It, it takes a while.
Like I said, I've been lookingat that dog's room for months

(06:50):
and months and thinking thisneeds to be changed and my
office as well.
And I, I knew that I had to doit before I could move on.
But it takes courage to do that'cause there might be some
things.
That you don't wanna let gobecause they're attached to
someone or something that'simportant to you.
But it takes courage to facethat and to face our stuff,

(07:12):
stuff in quotes, in releasingthings means that.
We're trusting that we don'tneed those things to feel secure
in ourselves.
I've been talking a lot abouthow we need to go within
ourselves.
You have the courage inside you.
You have that confidence.
We just need to build it up andyou need to take some steps.

(07:32):
This is one of those first stepsthat you can do.
If you can think about it as notlosing something, you are
gaining space for new things tocome in.
So decluttering is aboutcreating space for the new to
enter, to come in and open upamazing opportunities.

(07:55):
So maybe you're thinking you'vegot something that you wanna
declutter, you wanna release,you wanna let go.
You're looking for that spark tokind of get things going.
Start small.
Is there a drawer?
We all have those junk drawers.
That was one of my COVIDprojects.
Honestly.
I, I had this junk drawer in ourkitchen.
I went through that thing and I,I got rid of so much stuff.

(08:16):
It's still pretty organized, bythe way, but it's still a junk
drawer.
But maybe there's a shelf, maybethere's one corner of your room
that you don't like, you know?
If you have a chair in your roomor an office sometimes that
tends to collect clothes orthings that you're not quite
sure what to do with, so youjust put'em on the chair, clean

(08:37):
off that chair, check that off.
You'll feel amazing.
When you're looking at things todecide, do I need this or not?
Ask yourself, does this thing,this object, does this support
who I am and who I'm becoming?
If the answer is no, you don'tneed it, you can get rid of it,

(08:58):
you can release it.
And when I say get rid of it, itdoesn't have to be throw it
away.
And the garbage, you coulddonate it, you could give it to
someone if they want it.
Of course.
There may be someone who coulduse whatever it is.
Lots of opportunities to donate.
But then when you do that.
Say you cleared out a smallspace.
You start took a small firststep.

(09:19):
Notice how you feel afterward.
I bet that you are going to feellighter and more energized, and
if that happens, when thathappens, celebrate that
progress.
You took a step, maybe you tooktwo steps, but once you take
those first steps, they're gonnalead to other steps.

(09:40):
So how does this.
Relate to midlife women?
Many women in midlife arealready in a place of releasing
things.
Their kids, you know, emptynest, kids are moving out,
they're going off to school.
Maybe you're shifting careers,maybe you're changing your
priorities, maybe you'rethinking about, doing something

(10:02):
totally different.
Physical decluttering kind ofmirrors the emotional and
spiritual decluttering.
Happening in midlife women.
So, I'm in this changing,pivoting, renewing my business,
and I needed to get rid of thatphysical stuff to help me move

(10:24):
on energetically.
It helped, it worked.
It's great.
Not done yet, but it's coming.
So remember, don't think of itas losing something.
You are making room for courage,confidence, and clarity.
I'm gonna say that again.
Don't see it as losingsomething.
Think of it as making room forcourage, confidence, and

(10:48):
clarity.
So just remember.
Couple tips before we end this.
Clear some space.
Clearing your physical space isgonna help create momentum in
the other parts of your life.
Try it for yourself.
Start with something small.
Start with a desk drawer.

(11:09):
Start with a shelf.
Start with that chair in yourbedroom.
That's gathering stuff.
Look in your closet.
Pick out five outfits that youdon't wear anymore, or five
items of clothing.
Get rid of them.
Send them off to a donation.
There's always places to takeit.
And then I want you to sharewith me and another little

(11:29):
reminder for my beautifulmidlife women.
Midlife isn't about holding ontoeverything.
It's about courageously creatingspace for what matters most.
So I hope this has resonatedwith you.
Thank you for joining me thisweek.
Clearing clutter might seem justlike another chore on the list,

(11:51):
but as I've experienced, it canbe a doorway to something new
and fantastic.
New energy, new ideas, and thecourage to take action in the
other areas of your life.
So remember, think about onesmall space that you could clear
out this week, whatever ithappens to be.
Notice how you feel afterward.
And then celebrate that you didit.

(12:12):
Those little steps, that littlestep can lead to big things.
If this episode resonated withyou, I would love it if you
would share it with a friend whomight need a little
encouragement too., If you'renot part of my Flourishing With
40 Group yet, I think you shouldjoin.
There's a link to it in the shownotes and share with me in that
group, what space you'reclearing out and how you feel

(12:34):
afterward.
And we could talk about like,what are some big things coming.
Until next time, remember thatmidlife is the perfect time to
let go of what no longer servesyou and create space for what
truly lights you up.
Take care of your beautiful selfand I'll talk to you soon.