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© Jacquie Wise – Coach, Counsellor, Speaker, Trainer and Author, specialising in personal, professional and spiritual development
Declutter your Life
Our lives always work better when we are able to let go of the old to make way for the new. All from the simple act of clearing clutter, people experience improvements at all levels—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, including better health, peace of mind, even better sex! In this two-part article, you will discover why you're a hoarder, and how to free yourself of clutter.
Take a look around your home. Is it overflowing with books, old magazines, clothes you never wear, gadgets you stopped using years ago and so many ornaments or photographs that you never notice them? You might be so used to it all that you don't see it as clutter.
Reasons it's important to be free of clutter
Cluttered homes aren't the sanctuary they're meant to be. They're messy and can cause us a good deal of stress as we waste precious time hunting for things. Think, too, of the extra housework you're creating and the time it takes to get around or move all that stuff.
Clutter can create confusion in the rest of our lives. It's harder to decide with clarity which direction, which relationship, which work to undertake, when there is no clarity in what is important to keep and what you no longer value.
People treat you differently if your surroundings are cluttered. They see you as disorganised, undisciplined and sloppy—possibly unreliable as a consequence. It can create tensions in relationships if those you live with prefer order or minimalism!
A cluttered environment often reveals an overwhelmed mind. Have you ever felt you can't get started on a project until you've 'cleared the decks'? It can be hard to think clearly if there's mess everywhere. Perhaps your clutter is an excuse to avoid moving forward in your life.
Which leads us to one of the major reasons it's important to clear your clutter, Clutter drains your energy in more ways than one, and can keep you stuck in patterns of thinking or behaviour, which in turn can cause your life to stagnate.
In the same way as clearing cupboards of the old
makes more room for the new, clearing your life of clutter
allows for shifts in your consciousness,
and for new experiences and opportunities to enter your life.
People who have de-cluttered their lives often report the experience as 'liberating'.
But one person's junk is another's treasure, so how do we define clutter? If you don't love it, use it, or refer to it at least once a year, it's clutter.
Why we collect clutter
Some of the reasons just reflect our busy, overcrowded lives. Or there may be bigger underlying issues we've transferred into clutter.
Guilt If we've spent a fortune buying the thing in the first place, or we bought it on a whim, we feel we ought to keep it. Throwing it out is such a waste! But keeping it won't bring the money back. Get over it. If you're keen to feel guilty, try feeling guilty for hanging onto something you don't want that someone less fortunate desperately needs.
Fear of admitting failure Ok, so maybe you did make a mistake. Is keeping the thing going to change that? Maybe you've just changed your mind. That doesn't mean it was a mistake. It was right for that time, and now it's time to move on, that's all.
Fear of regret If you get rid of it, you might kick yourself. Or some family member is sure to ask you for it as soon as it's gone. I'll be showing you in part two how to ensure you will never regret your decision.
Family pressure Some families impose on you the task of being the guardian of the five million family heirlooms. It's all very well for them to insist on keeping these so-called treasures, they're not cluttering up their home! And what about the adult kids who use your home as a convenient dumping ground? For now, just be aware of this pattern and how it makes you feel. There are ways to rebel nicely. Speaking of rebellion, that could be a reason too.
Rebellion If you've been brought up in a suffocating household, you may be subconsciously following a compulsion to free yourself of such rigidity. What better symbol of bohemianism than clutter!
Sentiment Everyone values reminders of special times and special people. But if you keep everything indiscriminately, nothing is special.
Avoidance Your clutter may represent some part of your life you need to face. Dealing with clutter can be a painful reminder. Yet, leaving it there is tugging at your subconscious anyway. . I once worked with a client who had kept every single birthday card each of her three children had received from their thirty classmates each year. Her 'kids' were now in their thirties and didn't care two hoots about those cards. Facing the fact that they'd grown up was painful for her and she was hanging on to their childhood. Learning to deal with those issues was her freedom.
Identity For some, their clutter represents a record of their life. For example, heaving bookshelves groaning with tomes they never touch represent who they are. I'm not saying don't be a book-lover, I'm one myself, but I do cull occasionally (to make room for more, of course!) What you choose to cull is in itself an interesting reflection of how you're growing and who you're becoming. Photographs are often another problem area. Just getting rid of duplications and bad shots can halve the piles.
Disorganisation That can mean having too much stuff for the space available in which to store it, and having no identified place for each thing. Boredom may be an added impediment, if the thought of ploughing through those old journals or files makes you want to leave the country. It wouldn't be such a marathon task if it were done in small chunks, regularly, such as archiving clearly labelled files at the end of each financial year. Or are you one of those people who buys a sixth item because you can't remember where you put the other five? So you have quadruplicates of everything floating around—somewhere.
Fear of lack You may have been influenced by parents who went through the Depression or other hard times. For them, it was relevant to keep every last bit of string. But is relevant for you today? Do you really want to live your life according to someone else's values?
Overwhelm That's a common one. Don't know where to begin, don't know where to put it, don't know what to keep and how to decide, don't know what I want, and it's all too hard.
If any of those reasons have struck a chord, don't despair—they're all too common. Understanding the reason can help liberate you from its grip. Sometimes, though, only sheer determination (or desperation) will do the trick.
Where to begin Decluttering
If you can't re-use it, repair it, remodel it, recycle it, or retire it for a while (at least get it out of the way) then there's only one option left. REMOVE it!
Never sort anything out until you have a space to put it in, or you end up with half sorted piles that you can't put back.
If you find it hard to throw things out, it might be easier to start by selecting
what you want to keep and, more importantly, why.
More specific pointers will follow in the next issue of the Bulletin. Or if you're desperate, you can always call me!
Wise Words
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.
Robert Brault