'Are you Spent?' ie: OVERWHELMED?!

I read a great article a while ago by journalist Maria Lally about the phenomenon of being "Spent". Being diagnosed as being 'Spent', basically means you are exhausted, overwhelmed and just running on empty.Sounds familiar anyone!?

A Book has even been written about it, by Dr Frank Lipman called "Spent? End exhaustion and feel great again."

Lipman had countless patients come to him who, even after a full 8 hrs sleep were tired and unable to achieve what they normally would in a day.

Lipman's research found that a big contributing factor - especially to women in the West, was not being in tune with Nature. Simply going to bed when it gets dark - yep - very early in Winter and getting up to natural sunlight in the morning, can make a massive difference to our sense of Wellbeing. Lipman goes onto say "Our DNA isn't in sync with Modern life, and our energy levels, sex drive, waist size and mood are paying the price."

Thankfully Lipman suggests some less extreme ways - apart from going to be at 5.30 over Winter (!) to get back in sync with nature and ourselves to be able to feel 'normal' again. These include but aren't limited to:-

* Going on a Technology Detox
- Daily exposure to phone (especially portable home phones, ot just mobiles) and computers overstimulates and affects our sleep patterns.

* Eat protein for Breakfast

* Deal with Bad Digestion (I have Lemon Juice every morning which helps kick start my otherwise problematic Digestive System.)

* Downsize your Workout

For more info you can check out his website @ www.spentmd.com


Cutting down on your 'stuff' can also lighten our mental load too, reducing the chances of becoming officially 'Spent'. Factoring in some all important 'Me Time' is also vitally important to your Wellbeing as well.

To read an article on Organizing better Wellbeing click here.

Claire McFee Author
Organize Your Life

Personal Goal Setting

Goal Setting

Even if your Life Goals are only in your head and not on paper it is better than aimlessly going thru life with no real direction at all. However Studies do support that if you get your Goals down in writing, you are A LOT closer to achieving them. If you are a detailed oriented Goal-Setter - you are putting yourself way ahead of the pack. I know which type of person I'd prefer to be - do you?

That said, our Goals can sometimes change completely and ‘that’s ok’. Don’t beat yourself up if you change your mind about what you want at particlular stage of your life....change is inevitable in all areas of life, so just reassess your goals when necessary and go from there. As Dr. Timothy Sharp from the Happiness Institute says “There is much to be gained from journeys of self discovery”, and that reassessing and questioning were you are ‘at’ and where you want to be are a ‘constructive part of the process...just be conscious of focusing these questions on the positives.”

More on Goals...
Values and Personal Goal Setting

Creating time to get your Goals down on paper let alone implementing them takes organization – as it is all inextricably linked. To properly define what we want from life and how we can break that down into achievable goals takes time to reflect and assess where you are in relation to those goals.


Having core personal values that include respecting YOUR needs and wants, not just everyone elses will greatly influence your main Goal and breaking down of what you are able to achieve. So be conscious of allowing yourself the time to ponder ‘What's next?’ for you, as the more time you spend on this stage, the more time you will save in the execution stage. Psychologist Gemma Cribb, quoted for a Cleo article on this topic titled “The Life re-edit”, says we are often forced to contemplate our life direction when external circumstances change unexpectedly. Whether or not the contemplation you have is planned or unplanned, use your time well.

Assessing your 'Life Direction' it helps to focus on your true values. Cribb goes on to say, “Identify what’s meaningful to you in life and these values will become a reference point. Values are compass points, rather than definite goals ..regardless of other circumstances that are happening in your life.”

So have a think about where you are, where you want to be and whether you have been taking your personal values into account. They will help guide you, so keep them in mind! :)


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers


Article of Interest: If you just need some tips on how to organize some basics in your life try reading this "How to Get Motivated & Set Goals"

How to cope when a family pet dies....

Our Golden Labrador Angel was hit by a car and was put down recently. It was really, really sad. The grief physically hurt for a few days but thankfully has dissipated. Pets really do become part of the family don’t they. The kids were just devastated by the loss of another pet so soon - our cat sparkles died unexpectedly less than a year ago. They cried and cried which was the hardest part for me. Not being able to take their pain away. I know that as part of the grieving process they needed to go though that on their own terms, but was heartbreaking to watch.

Emma verbalised her distress about what would happen in the future when she needed ‘time out’ from the rest of the family (i.e.: was upset with one or all of us about ‘whatever’) - who would she go to take her mind off things and get some affection and unconditional love from? It was an insightful thing to think and not one that we can ‘fix’ –at least not immediately. The loss of a pet can’t be solved overnight by getting another pet straight away. Sometimes it’s just too painful and you need time to heal first. That’s certainly how we feel. Angel was 3 ½ - so we had finally gotten her through the crazy young Labrador stage to the more sensible stage, making it all the more hard to accept her untimely death.

Having pets and inevitably losing them at some point –hopefully later rather than sooner - is all part of growing up and learning about responsibility and of course change and death. I encouraged the kids to write down their thoughts and do some drawings about Angel and their favourite memories of her – and what might be on a head stone if we had a proper one – i.e. RIP and what the means etc. We discussed burying her together, which as hard as it is to do is an important part of the grieving process. We went through this with Sparkles as well, so this wasn’t completely foreign to them. When we buried the cat they asked about the ‘how will she breath under the ground’ type questions and we had similar questions again from our 7 year old son about Angel..which of course leads to the ‘soul’ having already left the body and being in heaven so it’s ok…. Can be a bit of a hard concept to explain but is a good opportunity to discuss it all the same.

When a pet dies it’s also a good idea to put together a min-book of memories and photos of your beloved pet. Angel did some crazy naughty things that we remember fondly (in retrospect!!) and they will be lovely to have to look back on. We just hope the next pets we have will be around for longer than our last two that’s all!

How have you dealt with the death of a family pet? How did you help your children deal with the grieving process? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Organize Your Life Free Organizing MP3 Interviews

I was interviewed recently by Amanda Robins - Founder Of Toddler Taming Entrepreneurs and Connie and Charly - Founders of Stretch your Mind and Body on Organizing and how it relates to these areas of your life.

As I always say EVERYTHING is interconnected so getting organized can not only save you time and money but it can save your sanity as well! To listen to these interviews for free simply click on the links below. You will be taken to the Organize Your Life website. Please note the audio may take a minute to download but is worth the wait - as we have a great freebie and discount on offer for our Organize Your Life Organizer.


How to get into the Organizing Zone

Getting Organized to achieve Balance in your life

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Need some advice on "How to Organize Your Home and life" ? then read our Organizing Articles here.

To view our most recent Organize Your Life Newsletter for lots of Christmas Advice click here.

Join "The Story of Stuff" Community to help push for change in the world

Annie Leonard has done it again with a fabulous follow up to the brilliant mini-feature The Story of Stuff with The Story of Cap and Trade

If you don't know much or anything about the Carbon Trading Scheme; reduced target emissions etc then perhaps it's time you did and this is the best way I recommend to. :) As Annie Leonard (Founder of the Story of Stuff) succinctly says - the answers aren't going to come from the people that created the problem - conflict of interest anyone!??! - the solutions to the problems we are facing have to come from elsewhere.

The benefits of speaking up and joining forces with groups like these is a safer, cleaner, fairer world for ourselves and our children. No brainer don't you think!

There are more "The story of.." mini-features to follow The Story of Cap and Trade, so keep and eye out for them and join the over 9 million people who have already watched them. Help spread the world. Believe in People Power. I do. :)

Have you seen the Story of Stuff videos? What are your thoughts?


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers