203. Clutter Is Feedback: Meryl Paspa on Letting Go and Creating Space for Who You're Becoming

The closet, the calendar, and the overflowing to-do list are often about more than organization. They can be messages, sometimes uncomfortable ones, for women who have run out of bandwidth, not competence.

Meryl Paspa joins Drs. Joanne Sotelo and Erin Hurley to explore how clutter can reflect overwhelm, shifting identities, and the changing demands of women's lives. She reframes clutter as feedback rather than failure and introduces her CLEAR framework: gaining clarity on who you're becoming, lightening your load by releasing what no longer serves you, embracing your decisions, aligning your choices with who you are, and reimagining the space you've created. The conversation is warm, disarmingly personal, and immediately practical.

Key Takeaways To Listen For

• Clutter, whether physical, mental, or on your calendar, is feedback, not failure. It signals that bandwidth has run out, not competence
• Clearing without a vision of who you're becoming just creates a vacuum. The space refills with something else unless identity shifts first
• Closets and calendars are identity places, not storage. What you keep and what you release reflects a version of you
• Not all clutter belongs to you. Naming whose it actually is loosens the reflexive assumption that you must manage everyone's stuff
• Sentimental items and grief call for extra support and patience, and you can allow postponing a decision you're not ready to make

"If we think of [difficult times in life] as transitions instead of challenges and difficulties, I think the perspective and our energy and our focus changes." — Meryl Paspa

About Meryl Paspa: Meryl Paspa is an author, speaker, and coach who helps women in transition move beyond clutter and overwhelm to create space for who they are becoming. She is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Certified High Performance Coach, and licensed Aesthetician with more than two decades of experience working with women. Her first book, CLEAR: How to Let Go of Clutter and Create Space for Who You're Becoming, is available now on Amazon.

Connect with Meryl Paspa:

Website: https://merylpaspa.com

Book (CLEAR): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJMKXMMF

Free CLEAR Companion Workbook: https://merylpaspa.com/clear-workbook/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merylpaspa/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjpaspa/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merylpaspa

Substack: https://substack.com/@merylpaspa

Connect With Us

Find every episode at https://www.createmeaninginmedicine.com

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🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/create-meaning-in-medicine/id1752701820