Time to Channel Your Inner Elsa

My father?passed away on January 5, 2022.?

Many times a family death is out of our control and our feelings seem to creep up and surprise us at the craziest of times. Last night, I was making a bowl of chicken noodle soup and I became flooded with remembering my father. I completely broke down. And as tough as these times are, guess what - so am I.?

The only thing that has been helping me through this time has been a visceral desire to declutter my office, my home, and my life. And it seems apropos that today is Clean Off Your Desk Day.

MY OFFICE

I made myself stand back and really look at my office. I even got down on the floor and crawled around to see what was there. I looked at it from a variety of places and angles. I even went outside my house to peer in my office to see what it looked like from there. It's too much - it was all too much!

You each have to do this type of exercise in a way that honors your work. I'm not going to tell you to throw away that toy from a conference, but if it's not sparking you joy (I haven't even read Marie Kondo's book either, but I get the idea of what she's talking about) then channel that inner Elsa and Let It Go!?

MY HOME

My husband and I did a lot of decluttering in 2020. I mean - we were home for a year and ran out of projects around the house! However, there's a particularly bad habit in our home of 'setting things down' and I'm hoping we aren't the only ones. (Please tell us we aren't the only ones?) And to stay busy, I started going into each room and sitting and looking around.?

I noticed stuff that just got brought in the room and sort of left. It eventually became part of the decor and we just stopped noticing it. Intentional noticing has been really good for this decluttering process. Take the time to spend in your spaces and see if things are just not supposed to be there. Chances are, we got lazy (and so did our brains) and we need let things go.?

MY LIFE

This is a touchy subject for me and probably for you, but I made the decision a few weeks before the new year that I wasn't going to spend time in rooms with people I don't like. Period.?

Not liking someone doesn't mean you hate them. (Read that twice.) I have learned a lot from one of our?Females and Finance friends, Nicole Lewis-Keeber, who is lovingly referred to as "The Business Therapist." She has a great TikTok channel where she talks about trauma, triggers, and why we are the way we are. I highly recommend you stop by her channel, give her a quick follow, and she'll truly help you understand some of our individual "weirdness."

I wanted to be sure to wrap this article with a note of gratitude for every person and organization who?reached out about my dad and his death. With hundreds of thousands of views, thousands of interactions, and hundreds of notes of those who shared their stories of loss or just a thought on mine - it truly helped. I've been in some dark places and those kind words were like tiny rays of light and have helped me so much. I thank you from the literal bottom of my broken heart for your kindness.

Stay well, friends.

Sheryl Hickerson, CEO - Females and Finance

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Sheryl Hickerson, CEO of Females and Finance, has proudly worked in the financial services profession for 32 years. She is an international speaker, an award-winning diversity advocate in the financial services community, and an award-winning financial services marketer.

You can learn more about her work?here.