Clear the Clutter, Calm the Chaos | Ep 188

I imagine getting up every day full of energy as if you were in your 20s again. What would that be like? What would that be worth to you? What is your health worth to you? Think about it, your health isn't everything, but without it, everything else is nothing. And yet, too many of us are taking it for granted until something goes wrong. No one wakes up hoping to be diagnosed with a disease or chronic illness. And yet we've never been taught how to be proactive in our health through our school system or public health as a registered health coach and integrative health practitioner, I believe it is time this information is made available to everyone, combining new knowledge around your health and the ability to do my functional medicine lab tests in the comfort of your own home will allow you to optimize your health for today and all your tomorrows. Don't wait for your wake up call. Welcome back to another episode of The don't wait for your wake up call podcast. I am Melissa Deally, your host, and today we are doing a special pota Palooza episode, and I am here with Kitti Andrews Kitti, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here.

I'm very excited to have you, and I'll just introduce you to the audience. Kitty is an A is a multiple international best selling author known as the one lady, provides personalized decluttering solutions to those challenged with procrastination and overwhelmed so they can thrive in a calm and productive environment for life. So I absolutely love that kitty because, of course, there's so many people in the world today that are feeling overwhelmed, and this is one way that we can help them get out of that overwhelm. But before we dive into that, I'd like to go backwards a little bit in your story. How did you come to be working in this area, helping your clients in this way? Well,

thank you for asking. It's been, it's been a journey. And really, where it started is, I had an 18 year real estate cleaning business, and a lot of that started, to you need to stage sometimes for for a home sale, and if they didn't want to spend the money on getting a stager in, then the realtor would sit in and the client would confer, and they would say, Okay, well, just see what you can do, Kitty, see if you can make it look a little bit a little bit nicer. And so I started doing that more and more. And what the funny thing was, Melissa was that people would, invariably, they wouldn't compliment, oh, it looks nice. They would say, it feels nice. And that always it kind of surprised me, because, you know, I like to think I have a good eye and, you know, I put some some thought and care into it. And we're not talking bringing in furniture, mind you, we're talking about just working with what they have and maybe organizing the boxes so it doesn't look like a horror show. We've all seen those basements, haven't we, and that just comes to kind of surprise me. Oh, it feels better, alright. So my brain started to put these things together, and then there was a in the middle of that, there was a pivotal moment where my grab your, grab your Kleenex, my, my cousin was she, she, she was dying of cancer, and her place was she called me and said, Would you come out here and help me, help me declare, because I just want to have friends over. And she hadn't had friends over to her house in in years, and I didn't know what her place looked like. So okay, so went out fast forward, three weeks later, I'm about to get and get and she gave me carte blanche, by the way, this she was in hospital. She just said, do whatever. And she came home. My light went out. She came home, and my last memory of her was her waving at me, I'm about to get in the taxi to go back to the airport, and there she was, waving at me from her from her sofa, while she was entertaining people, and she was absolutely beaming with pride. And she she she did die six months later. And She lasted longer than what they thought. And her brother said to me a little while after, you, you made all the difference. And that was when I thought, wow, it's it really does have an effect on your emotions, on your health. Again, you know, she lived longer than she was supposed to, liver cancer, you know, which is. And so I feel like I'm keeping her memory alive when I do this, knowing how good she felt. And then when someone suggested to me virtual decluttering, and I looked into it, and at that time, in 2017 there were only three practitioners in the world that I could find we weren't as glued into our screens as we are now. And it's turned into what has been described to me by a realtor, is a less intrusive, more focused way to get rid of years of accumulation. Why? Because you don't have to clean for the cleaning lady. You don't have to feel embarrassment and shame of having, God bless, the organizers that will come into your house. But you know, and Terry did have an organizer, and it was, it was not a pleasant experience for us. She she felt shame and embarrassment, and this way we only focus on you said, the one lady we focus, and we can talk a bit more about that on one area of your house at a time, so you you could just focus better.

Well, I love that story. Thank you for sharing it, and I understand why you said, Get the tissues out. And yes, I absolutely also understand how somebody would feel better in that space, right? Because when we have all of the clutter, our brain is constantly trying to process all of that, and our brain knows it's there, and so that just has our brain and on a higher level of alert, because there's so much stuff it needs to pay attention to. And when we get rid of the stuff and we can create this more Zen, like space, then our brain can calm, and that's why we're feeling better. And it's in that state when we're not stressed out that the body can heal, and, yes, fully healing, from somebody's, you know, stage four liver cancer. However, it had your cousin lasting longer because the body wasn't was able to, you know, heal a little bit, to have her last that, you know, longer than expected. I wasn't

using the mental energy, the mental energy that was with the worry and the shame and all the negativity, was able to fuel her physical energy. And that has happened with clients where their health has improved or they have decided. In one case, Sarah decided, three weeks into working with me, she said, I I thought a long time ago about getting on a fitness program, and you know what, darn it all, I'm going to do it. And was totally out of out of nowhere, but she decided, and God bless her, she's kept with it. Four years later, she even drove her tractor to the gym one time because her truck broke down.

Oh, that is hilarious. I love that story. And so yes, to your point, she now has the physical energy to be able to go to the gym because the mental energy isn't being used dealing with all of that clutter. And so you know, something that people think is a non issue, and, you know, I'll deal with it later. It's really should be a priority, because it does have these positive ripple effects in other areas of your life, that when you clean up the space, you know, it's spring cleaning, everybody knows when they've taken the time to do some spring cleaning, they feel lighter afterwards. And so your work is incredibly powerful, not only in, you know, cleaning the space, however, in making people feel better, as you started this out with. So I absolutely love that and the ripple effect that that has. It's beautiful. Now, I had no idea that you could do this, or never really thought about it. You doing this online. And so that's really interesting in the fact you said there was only three people in the world doing that in 2017 and then now, of course, post pandemic, there's many more people. So that's really fascinating and great for the audience to know, because it doesn't matter where they are, you can work with them room by room. That's

right. I'm in Canada. I'm in Atlantic, Canada. The ocean's right outside my window, and most of my clients are in are in the States, and I've spoken to people in Europe and. In Australia, like it's, it's, it's a world without borders. And if you need the help, once you find the right person, whether it's me or somebody else, then it really is life changing. And I how do you market that? How do you explain how you're going to feel after, if you have, if you haven't felt it, you know, but once you do, then it's, it's life changing. So I have an idea on how if we, if we have time, on how people can, can try this.

Well, I would love you to share that, and we do have time. And before we go there, I just want to say, with all of my work as a holistic mind body health practitioner, I fully understand the connection between you know, spirit, the emotional body, the mental body, the physical body, and our emotions do drive our decisions. They do drive our behaviors. And so when you're shifting people's emotions, you're absolutely shifting their behaviors, as you've already outlined, you know, Sarah starts going to the gym, and your cousin lives longer because, you know now maybe she's sleeping better, etc, etc. There's different behaviors that are happening. So this is really, really powerful work that I truly believe in. There's so many different ways that we can look after our health, and there's many ways that we often overlook or we take for granted, or we think don't matter, and this is one of them, because we do all in the western world accumulate a lot of stuff. We really do, Oh yes,

oh yes,

yeah. And taking the time to get rid of it is important. And sometimes it's hard to do that on your own, because you look at it and you have all of these memories, and then you just, oh, I have to save that. I have to save that. Oh, and I need to save that too. I know that's my husband. And whereas having someone come in and help you with it, you know, over zoom or in person, yeah, allows you to be able to release some of that clutter and create the case, create the column that you're looking for in life,

and you mentioned the sentimental items that is one of the top three that people say, What do I do with this? And when you think about what actually my newest client, where, where we're sorting through. I don't particularly like the word decluttering her late husband's stuff, and that's that's going to be painful, and even even just touching one of his coats, this is hard for her. So there, there are a lot of little undercurrents. Fortunately, she's motivated to heal, and that's where it has to start, is you have to have, okay, you you will benefit from a strong Why, what is your why that you want to do? Well, I don't know. I just want it to look pretty, no, and that's fine. That's fine, but there's always a deeper why. Under that many people, most of my clients, have been over 40, and they especially even closer to the 50 range where they've been in corporate. They've done a lot of work. Maybe they've raised their children already, and there that song is that all there is, you know, that start to be looking for something more, and for for my clients have, or maybe five, and we're going to stick with four have changed careers or picked up, picked up something a crap Sarah, for example, she never met a craft that she didn't like. I'm here to tell you. And she finally zeroed in on stained glass. And I she recently sold her her her first third commissioned item. I said to her on our first one, even as your third one, I always ask her, do you think you would have been able to do this in the state that your host was in before? And she just said, No way. I couldn't have focused that well. And yeah, it has far reaching effects. So what does that do for her? It fuels her self esteem and which fuels her good health? Yes, and it goes in a constant circle, and she can help other people declutter, because you are decluttered for life.

Yes, that's beautiful. I love it. And when you were just talking about your friend who's husband and past. I recently had a friend who's had a husband pass suddenly, and she was going through all of his clothes. And at the same time, another girlfriend of mine reached out to me, and she said, You know, I'd really love to help out, and this is what I'd like to do. I'd love for them to give me all of his favorite articles of clothing, and I'm going to make a quilt out of it for each of his daughters. Oh, wow. And so it took her a year. She said it would take that long because she's busy working herself. She presented them all with the most beautiful quilts very recently, what a beautiful, touching gift and a way that they get to keep dad close and wrap themselves in his favorite clothing, while also letting go of the rest of the clothing. So I'm just sharing that because it's such a beautiful story. And for other people who are listening, or for you, you can make that recommendation to other people if you can't let go of the clothing, save these, save some and find a quilter who can turn it into a quilt blanket. For you.

I am loving mash.

So, yeah, so I am loving what you do and, oh, you're most welcome loving what you do and how you're having this powerful impact on people's lives and health. You know, creating this space that then they can find their passion and create artwork that they would never have been able to do before. Again, it's so life changing, right? It changed so really, really powerful and yet so simple, such a simple idea, it

is. And if we have time out there people are they think, Oh, well, why shouldn't what I can do that myself. I don't need to pay somebody to help. It is, in a way, surprising that I am not swamped. I have a full slate with the amount of clutter. As you mentioned, it should be more, however, many people are not action takers. They think I can when purchasing any coaching services, I'm sure, I'm sure you'll agree. They say, well, I should be able to dot, dot, dot. Why can't I something wrong and something must be wrong with me. I'll just do it myself, and a couple years later, I'll phone them and say, so how's it going? It will Yeah, I haven't really done too much about it. Why not? Because sometimes you just need somebody in the background, like yourself just going, yes, you can do that. I'm the guide. You're the one that's doing the work. You're the one who was actually doing doing it. And that's sometimes what, what people need. And exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly. I applaud the action takers,

yes. And then, and for those that aren't the action takers, without the guide, and I call myself a guide as well. Without the guide, they get into their overwhelm that we started talking, you know, this whole conversation about and then when we're in that state of overwhelm, it's we can't get started, because it just feels like it's too much, it's too big, and I don't know where to start, so it's easier just not to start. And I'll get to it another day, and I'll do something else instead. Yes, now you had said a couple of times, if we have time, I'd like to get into so we do have a bit of time here. We have about five more minutes. So please, whatever that is, please share

because you made a wonderful segue. You really did as far as, okay, I'll get I'll get to it tomorrow, because of the overwhelm. So I've been thinking, Alright, what can I do about what do? What do I suggest to people who don't enroll with me, or they're thinking about it for for a while? Whatever it is, okay, pick something small. Now my one system is and that's why I'm called The One lady is one room at a time, one area of the room at a time, one thing at a time, and it's basically designed for ADHD ers, hello, hello. And most of my clients, because our brains are so busy that we're get really, really overwhelmed faster than the average bear. It's just, it's insane. So if you, if you narrow it down, and this goes for your brain as well, by the way, even if you're brushing your teeth in the morning, okay, what one thing can I focus on that'll make the most impact? So speaking of that, you you have a listener who is thinking, I don't know what to do. Okay, pick one area. Now that's easier said than done. And but once you decide what's going to make the most impact in your life, let's go with entrepreneurs because, because we know right, pick your desk that's one small area that you can make a difference. Unless you're like my very first client with a huge L shaped desk that had this much paper, you know, it's, it's going to be reasonably easy to do. And if it's, if it isn't, then take one item off it per day. I have another system that one can use as well. But this, we're, we're on this topic. We're keeping the steps small, because the small steps, as you know, in your in your health coaching, are what are going to make the big results. Agree, Agree. Oh yeah, all

that up, yep. And we have to start with baby steps so that we can get started, because if we try to do it all at once, we end up back in overwhelm and doing nothing, and that's not effective. And

praise the Lord and pass the Doritos, right? So I make that a double Big Mac. Take one thing off your desk per day, and I don't care if that's just one pencil, you've done something, and what that does is not only the physical, but you're activating the energy, you know, the unseen energy that's happening, and you're going to feel momentum from do okay, well, it was only a pencil. Doesn't matter. It was something and you activated the universe, whoo, alert. But that's what you that's what you've done. And it will get easier and easier. And then you can start to tackle how many Melissa one other area, your bathroom counter, for example. And that can at least get you started, and then if you decide I want to go faster, well then that's when we have a chat.

Yes, and I love that. And thank you for explaining why you're called the one lady that makes sense. And it is it. It can literally be that simple. And in my work, I'm often talking to people about, let's do things the easy way. We're so programmed that things, you know, if they're worth it, they have to be hard. And so then we look for the hard way. We get in our own way. We overcomplicate it ourselves. And really, it can be that simple as taking one pencil off your desk today and then one more thing off your desk tomorrow, and knowing that you will get there, your desk will become uncluttered by removing one thing every day. And as you said, if you want to speed it up, you can do that, and you can speak to Kitty for support in making that work so that you can speed it up and still manage to complete the job without speeding it up and getting into overwhelm. So thank you so much, Kitty for coming and having this all important conversation with me. I really appreciate it. Your work is so important, and I love to ask all of my guests, what does don't wait for your wake up call. Mean to you?

I think Terry would say it best. My cousin, don't wait until you absolutely desperately want and need to make, to make a change in your environment or in your health. Don't wait until the last minute. Take action now. Doesn't matter how small it is.

That's beautiful. Thank you. Yes, take action now, and if people want to work with you, kitty, how can they get hold of you?

You can go to declutter the brain.com. I'm easily searchable on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, we have a declutter the brain Facebook group. And my latest client found me on YouTube, where there are about 500 videos out of 1000 that I've done on all types of decluttering 52 weeks worth of content. So that's YouTube is actually your fastest way to get to know me, beautiful

and clutter the

brain

beautiful. So I'll put all of that in the show notes for the audience. And I believe you have a free gift for the audience that you want to share as well.

I do complete with pretty graphic seven easy steps to conquer your physical and mental clutter, intended as a grounding journey for your declutter journey and ground grounding for your declutter journey and beyond.

I love it. Thank you so much for offering that. I encourage everybody to go to the show notes, connect with kitty, grab that free gift that she's given and. And Kitty, do you have any last words of wisdom that you would like to share with the audience as we wrap up this show?

I do your clutter, whether it's physical or mental, did not accumulate overnight. It's not going to go away overnight unless you have a better magic one that I have. And so cut yourself some slack and take it one bite at a time.

I love that beautiful wisdom. I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Kitty to my audience. Thank you for listening week in and week out and learning from all the fabulous guests I have on the show. If you know somebody that needs to hear Kitty's message today, please share this episode with them, and thank you for tuning in each and every week, we will be back here again next week. Thank you for investing this time with me on the don't wait for your wake up call Podcast. I'm so glad you joined in. If you can take two minutes to share this episode with someone you think can benefit and have a positive impact on their life, that would be wonderful. Please leave a review by going to your favorite podcast listening app and let me know what you enjoy or would like to hear more of it. Will support me in my effort to bring the possibility of natural healing to a wider audience and help disrupt the sick care system we have today and make human health a global priority. Health is your true wealth. You.