I’m too busy with more important things. That’s my internal dialogue when I look at certain organizational tasks that seem too overwhelming. But one thing I’ve learned, and still haven’t mastered, is that organization isn’t a one-level thing. Clutter can start from the inside and spread like a virus to the outside. What I mean is that sometimes, if we haven’t gotten rid of the emotional clutter of the past, those issues can affect our physical world as well.
I’m a smart girl. I make lists for everything. I make lists of different exercises for my exercise routine, and lists for homework assignments, and lists for articles I want to write, and lists for my long-term writing goals. And not to forget the lists of things my children need, I need, their school needs and grocery lists, books I want to read, etc. It’s a definite start and a kind of real release, because then you feel more organized. — but it’s not until you actually do some of those things on your lists that you really sort through all your clutter or better yet — you accomplish some of your goals.
prioritize
What is the most urgent? What stops us the most? If my kitchen is a pigsty, I have no motivation to cook a healthy meal. So the first thing on my list would be to clean the kitchen, or whatever else is extremely necessary. From there, I could plan healthy meals or decorate my kitchen to my heart’s delight. I usually try to write down the night before what needs to be done the next day, and in order of priority. I think about my emotional, physical, spiritual balance. Is my exercise regimen tapering off? Are my feet getting stuck to some unidentifiable blue goo on the kitchen floor? Or do I just need to make that time to read a good uplifting book to stir my soul and get back on track? If all three, then those would be my priorities for the day. But the first step, even before prioritizing, is knowing what kind of clutter is holding us back. Our job is to recognize our clutter and intentionally begin the process of removing it.
Different Kinds of Clutter
Clutter can mask so much. So let’s identify those different types and which ones belong to us personally.
- Over weight. We’ve all heard of emotional eating, and emotional eating comes from emotional clutter. It could be things we hold on to from our childhood or a past relationship that hasn’t been resolved. I think of the beach ball scenario, where we try to push the ball underwater. It doesn’t work though, it just keeps rising to the surface. We have to accept that it is there, bring it to the surface and play with it even if it is not fun. Or we can let it go, allowing the ball to blow behind us and disappear.
- Depression. We may have destructive beliefs from our past that can affect us on many levels. Instead of eating to console ourselves for unresolved emotional turmoil, we beat ourselves up and attack our psyches.
- Bad habits. There can be a wide range of these. It is important that we evaluate our clothes and decide if these clothes are beneficial or just help us to stagnate. They can be as simple as an addiction to watching television or more serious addictions that can harm many people, including ourselves.
- Material mess. This is what most of us think of when we think of clutter: stacked magazines on the dining room table, ten different pairs of shoes on the front door, a closet dumping clothes from twenty years ago.
I’ve listed the many faces of clutter, but haven’t really given advice on how to attack it. There are so many resources out there, depending on what our needs are. Let’s choose to eliminate the unnecessary elephants in our way, that’s the first baby step, and then look for the available information.
Life is about choice. We choose scrambled or overeasy, paper or plastic, and healthy or large. Regardless of our preferences at restaurants and in checkout lines, we choose whether we want to be an active participant in our own lives or whether we allow life to take its toll and drag us in any direction. I have found in my life, there is a wide range within each of us, from teetering on the edge of insane chaos to anal obsessive-retentive compulsiveness. Finding the right healthy point within this broad spectrum is a personal and unique experience. This is our only life, so let’s grab it, hug it and have fun with it, but most importantly – choose it. And as we clear out our clutter, let’s keep reminding ourselves that it’s the process that’s important.