Declutter It!

Start Moving Out Mental & Physical Clutter

by Jennifer on June 18th, 2008

We’ve been looking at mental and physical clutter - and the connections between them. Because it’s often hard to tell which comes first, the mental or physical clutter, you can give your decluttering a little kick start by getting rid of a little of both.

First name five mentally cluttering issues you’ve got going on. Some ideas might be:

• When your ex nags you, it really gets to you.
• You hate sending birthday cards, but do it anyhow.
• You hate your job - it just stresses you out (this is a biggie obviously).
• That mistake you made five years ago.
• Doubts you have about your abilities.

These are just some basic examples of things that clutter up your head, unnecessarily. You may say, “Wait, I need that job.” Yeah, you might, but some things aren’t worth the stress. If you really anguish over work, stop anguishing and start looking for a new job. It’s that hard and that simple.

Once you have your mind clutter list, choose one or two issues, and concentrate on solutions to rid yourself of them. It may be looking for a new job. It might be dumping that downer friend or seriously getting over an ex, but work at it. The best part is that you don’t have to work on all your mental clutter at once. That’s why you choose one or two. Make a list of why the issue should be taken care of. Hang that list up where you can see it. Coming soon, more ideas about how to actually work on one specific issue.

Physical clutter:  

Next grab a box and fill it with ten items you don’t need. Get them out of your house. We’ve talked about getting rid of stuff before, but if you feel cluttered both physically and mentally, don’t play around with deciding what goes where, just put ten things in a box and get rid of the box.

Moving out both bits of mind and physical clutter at the same time is one starter solution for when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Most people feel better with less physical clutter, which makes the mental stuff easier to deal with. On the same note, the less stress you feel, the easier it can be to clear the physical items. Addressing both issues simultaneously, is one solution that can help.

Have you ever made a list of mind clutter issues, in order to try and let them go? How did that work for you?

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