Life can be messy and unpredictable and that’s okay. You’re okay. That is, as long as you don’t sit in the mess instead pulling yourself up and learning what gifts the mess is there to GIVE you and what lessons your mess is trying to TEACH you.

If you’re wondering how on God’s green earth you’re supposed to find gifts and lessons let alone benefits when your life is a mess, please stay with me. I promise you they’re all there and that if I could find and continue to find them during my mess, you can too.

Below are 8 benefits I discovered from my life being a complete mess. Never in a million years would I have believed that hitting rock bottom would have been a blessing in disguise, yet here I am. Wiser, healing, and more confident at 52 than I’ve been in my entire life. I hope there’s pieces of my journey that help you create positive habits, master emotional intelligence, and change your mindset while tackling your mess!

1. CREATIVITY: Messiness often goes hand in hand with creativity in both an artistic and a mental aspect. When our lives are a mess, creative thinking is required to mentally develop and implement a plan clean it up. Have you ever seen someone going through a huge life change (divorce, move, etc) that appears to have their shit together? Likely not. Or an artist or crafty friend with a meticulously neat workspace? If you answered yes to that one, please send them over to my house! Creative individuals often have cluttered minds and workspaces because they're actively engaged in various mindset shifts and ideas. When we dig into our mess whether it’s our minds or our work space, that’s we’re we find the tools to create breathtaking results.

2. AUTHENTICITY: Being our authentic messy selves is by far one of the most empowering tools to living a life that’s meant for us. When we’re authentic we attract people, relationships and experiences that align with our goals, morals, and values. Through this we develop a circle where we BELONG as apposed to fitting in. When your life is a mess this is an opportunity to learn more about your authentic self and perhaps even meet her for the first time!

3. PRODUCTIVITY: When life is messy, it forces us to put our cards on the table, read them for what they REALLY ARE, not for what we wish they were, and take a deep dive into ourselves. Once we commit to actively pursue personal development, the mindset shift that follows is filled productive habits, tasks, and experiences.

4. SELF LOVE: Making mistakes, failing, and experiencing messiness in life are an integral part of developing a strong emotional intelligence mindset. It's through these experiences that we gain valuable insights, develop self acceptance and an enormous amount of self love. When you change your perspective of your mess into an opportunity to find yourself, you’ve laid a solid foundation for developing self love.

5. PERSPECTIVE: When our lives gets messy, it pushes us to look at our situation from different perspectives, to be open minded and even adaptable. For instance, say your partner gets offered their dream job in another state but you love your current home right down to the welcome mat outside of the front door! When you pause and look at the situation from a different perspective you take what could have been a complete mess of anxiety and arguing and you address it with an empowering level of problem solving, spontaneity, and the ability to see things from a positive mindset.

6. VULNERABILITY: Yep. I said the V word! The word we’ve been taught is weakness. When in actuality, it’s one of the most powerful and necessary tools towards becoming who we are meant to be living the lives we derseve to have! When your life is a mess and you allow yourself to be vulnerable during that mess, you’ll discover the internal gifts and the mindset necessary for creating a life you genuinely love. Being vulnerable allows us to let go of feeling the need to present a perfect life image to everyone which result in the freedom to become our authentic selves.

7. THE ABILTY TO PRIORITIZE: When we try to keep our lives from looking messy to others our focus has shifted from one of happiness to one of appearances. By taking the mess on with determination, transparency and dedication, we develop and unstoppable mindset. Our priority shifts to OURSELVES and climbing out of our mess into a productive person that’s chosen to prioritize happiness over appearances, and personal growth over stress.

8. BALANCE: Mental and environmental messes force us to develop balance. While having a mess in your livingroom for a day doesn’t have much effect on your mood, walking into a mess for a week does. The same is true for a messy mind. One day of feeling unorganized or stuck isn’t nearly as harmful as one week, a month or years. It’s essential to strike a balance. Balance is picking up the living-room before you go out with friends or saying no to someone that’s not making your needs a priority. Balance is recognizing what your mess is trying to teach you and choking the lesson over comfort.

Ultimately, at some point we all experience our lives feeling like a mess. CHOOSING to embrace your mess to find the lessons, positive personal development, and mindset shifts it’s calling you to discover is is the key to cleaning it up!

If you’ve discovered some positive new mindsets that came from a challenging mess or you’re feeling overwhelmed by your current mess, please comment below. You’re in the right place for judgement free positive support!

I’m glad you’re here,

Jill K Schmidt