Stress, anxiety, or nervousness can take a huge toll on one’s life. Often, when you are worried, you see things getting difficult for you. You frequently get late or find it hard to get things done on time. You are always disorganized since your mind is all cluttered with fears, doubts, and uncertainties.
What defines clutter?
Anything that we do not want is defined as clutter. Mostly, clutter wastes our time, space, and energy. It is something that stops us from doing what is more important in our lives. Clutter can be physical, like clothes and books that we do not need; however, it can also be mental or emotional.
Mental clutter can lead to long-lasting symptoms of stress. Research suggests that clutter is an ‘inside job’ meaning it has more to do with mental wellbeing rather than physical. When a lot of things get cluttered in our minds, we get stressed out much easier, and it affects us badly.
what causes our minds to clutter?
Living in an acquisitive world, it is quite tough to repel it. Switch on the television or browse through the internet, and you will see hundreds of posters saying this best stuff will make your life the best and so on. Do you really think buying something worth thousands of bucks can make you happy? No! To be happy, you only need peace and mental satisfaction.
Having a lot of worldly stuff, one of the most expensive cars, a big house, and a lavish lifestyle is not all you need to be content. The more things you have, the more your life is cluttered. If you run after a materialistic lifestyle, seeing someone with a better car or a bigger house than you can affect you at some point. This leads to your mind being cluttered even.
The main cause of mental clutter is when you hang on to fear. Having doubts and being unsure of your future can have a great emotional impact on you. Being afraid of regret or sorrows, we keep on overthinking, and our mind just gets on being cluttered.
When does clutter cause stress?
Undoubtedly, clutter contributes to emotional pain and stress. According to a survey, it was deduced that one out of every three people avoided spending time at home in order to avoid stress. Another study has proved that mental clutter has a bad impact on people.
It is important to know when you have reached the point where clutter has started to make an impact on your life. When clutter is unacceptable and intolerable, it is better to find a solution.
If you are very nervous, you do not know the purpose of anything in your life, that is when clutter starts causing stress. Whether you are afraid of going home or you have a fear of people at work, it means the clutter has started affecting you in a problematic way. Too much confusion in life can lead to an end to your creative mind, and it is better to find a solution to it.
Doctors have proven that cluttering your brain with negative thoughts might have an adverse effect on the brain. Clutter affects a person’s mood and even self-esteem. It gets you frustrated easily, and you can lose focus on important things.
How to declutter your mind
Decluttering is an ability that anyone can possess. There is no one best way that can help declutter to ease your mind. Experts suggest that you should declutter your stuff by clearing one area at a time. Focus on the thought or thing that bothers you the most.
Start with the smallest thing, such as your purse. Organize it in a way that soothes you. Throw away all the waste and put everything accordingly in their respective pockets. Next, look for any of your wardrobes that need to be cleaned. Put away all the extra stuff that you have not used for years. You would not be probably needing them still. Arrange your clothes according to types or even color codes! Believe me, it will be fun, and you will feel contented with your life.
Some experts also suggest a decluttering marathon in which you clean up your entire place in one go. This might be difficult, but once you are done, you will be at peace.
How to declutter
Get a huge amount of trash bags and boxes. Before you begin, time yourself according to your stamina. You can have a break after every 30 to 40 minutes. This gets you to concentrate on your work and try finishing one task before the next interval.
Sort your stuff. Divide your things into categories:
- Keep: This is the stuff that you will keep for yourself since you are using it.
- Sell: Take pictures of all this stuff and upload on any website such as eBay.
- Giveaway: Give these things to someone you know is worthy of. Also, you can donate these things to a reputable charity collector.
- Trash: See if you can recycle this stuff or throw it away if it is of no use.
- Undecided: If you cannot decide about this particular stuff, do not overthink it. Keep it aside in one box, and you can decide later on what you can do with it.
Start decluttering!
You should never fear to give away those things that you do not use. Always be grateful that you have so much that you can help others. By showing gratitude, a great amount of mental stress is relieved.
Even if you are not successful in decluttering properly, you can always take the help of a professional. There are many people ready to help you in terms of organizing your stuff.
Clutter is an unlucky drawback of mental health. It results in stress, and you need to overcome it. It makes you uneasy even at your own home. It affects your creativity and productivity, and in most cases, it can affect you physically.
Decluttering can help you feel happy and contented with your life. You can concentrate on important things in life and get everything done in a precise way. Your mind is much clear when your life is decluttered.
To conclude, it is very important to declutter in order to live a better and peaceful life. Decluttering creates an open space, physically and mentally. It sharpens your mind, helps you stop bad habits, and get out of toxic jobs or relationships. It turns you into a completely positive person, making your life meaningful.