08 08WHEN MY MIND AND PERSONAL SPACES GET CLUTTERED, I am much more likely to feel anxious and unhappy; it also becomes hard to get things done. Is the same true for you? Clutter can take many forms; I want you to think about what clutter means to you, and how you can start to let it go.
Let’s begin with mental clutter. Do you tend to stew over things in your mind? Do you spend time and energy pondering situations you can’t change? Do you anguish over certain people’s actions, wishing you had some control over them? Do you harbor resentment over past hurts? If so, it’s definitely time to work on letting stuff go.
I used to have a real problem with this. If someone did something that made me upset, I’d replay the event over and over in my head. I’d obsess over why this happened. I’d fixate on what I could have done to make things different. I’d be angry, and I couldn’t seem to forgive and forget until a significant amount of time had passed.
One day I realized that not letting things go was keeping me stuck in a place of hurt and disappointment. It was also wasting my brain space and time, and it was keeping me from getting important things done. I decided to start letting things go, and I’ve been a much happier person ever since.
If you don’t have any emotional baggage to dump right now (lucky you!), then how about focusing on the physical ways in which you can let some things go? Take a look around your home. Open your closets and your drawers. Are you holding onto things you don’t need? Now is a great time to let them go. I promise you will feel so much better when you do. Don’t worry about your kitchen and pantry right now, though—we’ll get to those in the very near future.
There are entire websites and books devoted to clutter control, and you can even hire a professional consultant to come to your home, so clearly many people must struggle with clutter. I’m definitely no expert, but I’ve gotten better at clutter control in the last few years by doing two things:
I am not saying that if something traumatic has happened, you should simply dismiss it and get on with your life. Quite the contrary; I encourage you to do whatever you need to do to process the event. Counseling can be very helpful. But then I encourage you to forgive, since that’s the healthiest way to move forward.
You know what else I want you to let go of? Being perfect. The pursuit of perfection isn’t worth your time or effort—being perfect is impossible. So let go of trying to have a perfect job, perfect house, perfect family, or overall perfect life, because it’s never going to happen. Instead, focus on being the very best you that you can be.
When I notice that an area of my home needs streamlining or organizing, I attack it right away and work on it until it’s done. I get rid of (or move into storage in the basement) anything I haven’t used in the last six months. I donate items or sell them on eBay whenever possible, as I hate to throw stuff away. But some things do have to go in the garbage. When that is the case, I avoid thinking about what something cost or whether I might need it someday in the future. These thoughts generally lead me to keep stuff that I shouldn’t, and that defeats the whole purpose of uncluttering. I know that labeled storage containers are my friend, but I only keep things in them that truly have sentimental value, or that I am certain I will need at some point.
Another thing I am really conscious of is my e-mail in-box. It’s not easy to keep it clutter free, but I find I am much less anxious when I respond to important e-mails as soon as they come in, file things I truly need to save into well-labeled folders, and delete everything else.