Gain Clarity By Decluttering — Taming Frenzy

Sometimes in life we find ourselves at a point where we feel unsure of the path to take next. Our brains feel frazzled and we’ve lost the clarity we may have had in the past. This often coincides with a home and life that are overstuffed and overflowing. Fortunately, we can gain clarity by decluttering and each area we cleared will help us find our way.

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I’m going to make a confession here: The times in my life when I’ve been the most confused and muddled about what direction my life was headed, what goals I wanted to pursue, and what I wanted or needed to do next, tended to be the times I’d take a look at my house and wonder whether it had been hit by a tornado or a bomb.

Through the years in conversations with lots of colleagues, other women have confided the same thing: that the state of their house and their mental state are often mirror images of each other.

There is a correlation between confusion and clutter. But there are actually several kinds of clutter: Physical, Mental, and Emotional. To gain — or regain — clarity, it’s important to deal with each kind of clutter that may be impeding our progress.

Types of Clutter

There are three types of clutter: physical, mental, and emotional. Each manifests in a different way and requires a different approach to get rid of it.

Let’s start with what usually comes first to mind when people think about clutter: the physical kind.

Physical Clutter

Physical clutter is generally the most obvious to identify and resolve because we can actually see it (and sometimes we’re tripping over it). It’s literally the stuff, objects, and possessions we own. Our homes are full of physical items and many of them are necessary. After all, we all need clothes to wear, places to sit and sleep, items to cook and serve food, and so on.

Every item in our homes is NOT clutter.

Clutter is an insidious problem because most of the time it starts out innocently enough. You need clothes to wear…but at some point you’ve got more clothes than you need and more than you wear regularly. Now you’re at the point where your closet is overflowing and you can’t put an outfit together in a timely fashion because your closet is overstuffed and you can’t find what you need.

This is where you’ve crossed over from adequate to overflowing and it’s often hard to recognize the situation until one day it becomes impossible to ignore.

The same happens with other items in our homes.

Paperwork comes into our homes for all kinds of reasons: bills, medical information, advertisements, entertainment. And as long as there is a home for it and a system to deal with it, it isn’t really a burden.

But one day you look up and can’t find what you need or you realize that papers have taken over every horizontal surface in your house. At this point mere filing is not going to solve the problem and more drastic measures are needed (in addition to a really good shredder).\

Fortunately, when the problem is physical cutter there’s a simple — if not easy — solution. You get to work and clean things up.

This is when you pull out the trash bags and boxes and begin going through items and making a plan to toss, donate, or sell things. It may not be the most fun situation, but it’s pretty straightforward (unless you’re dealing with sentimental items, then that’s another case completely which I talk about i.

Here are some tips to help get rid of the physical clutter:

• Get rid of unnecessary items. These are items that you no longer use, that you’ve got multiples of, that no longer work or provide value. This can be anything from extra parmesan cheese packets from when you had that pizza delivered to shoes that no longer fit or are in style to the dried out pens that won’t write well (hold up then toss a pen over my shoulder)
• Straighten up and get organized. Put things back where they belong and find homes for items that don’t seem to belong anywhere specific.
• Deal with sentimental items — they’re not being valued if they’re not cared for.
• Donate items that are still useful but no longer wanted. Your unused or unwanted items can be a real blessing to someone else.

There are tons of articles and videos out there to help you deal with physical clutter. I’ve got more than one post on this blog tp help you get organized.

Physical clutter leads to decision fatigue because every time you look at a mess or a pile, you’re subconsciously asking yourself, “Do I clean this up now or later?”. When your brain resources are spent asking questions like that, you’ve got less left over for the important decisions…like “What do I want from life and where am I going?”

Here’s the thing:

• our brains like order and when things are a mess it’s hard to focus
• constant visual reminders of the disorder and disorganization in our homes is literally a brain drain

And when there’s a problem with a drain…

you have to clear it out.

But clutter isn’t always just the physical stuff.

Mental Clutter

You can’t see mental clutter but it’s the stuff in your brain that you’re trying to remember and keep track of.

Things like:

• When’s the next time I have to go to the dentist?
• What gifts have I already purchased for our kids for Christmas and where did I put them?
• What dates did I scheduled for vacation?
• When is it my turn to host the next club meeting?
• Where was the name of that book I wanted to read?
• And when does the warranty on the new freezer expire?

All of the extraneous information that someone will need at some point in the future. does not need to be stored in your brain.

Here’s the deal: your brain is not a filing cabinet.

There are more efficient ways to keep track of and remember information than by relying on your memory (which can fail at the most inappropriate times).

In fact, I have pretty much abandoned relying on my own memory for much of anything because I know that I’m going to forget something. And…I’ve found better methods for tracking the information I need.

Between paper and digital methods there are systems that will help you stay organized, track and remind us about appointments, and give us places to record notes and other important information.

It’s merely a matter of personal preference and taking the time to set up a system. For my personal favorite paper planner take a look at this review of Planner Pad. I literally use this planner Every Single Day.

For digital systems, I recommend Trello or Asana. They each have pros and cons and I use them both for different types of things.

Mental clutter can also be the “busyness” we’ve built into our lives.

Busyness is when we’ve got a schedule that is jam packed with appointments, meetings, and events.

Unfortunately, busyness is so often seen as a badge of honor that we end up reveling in how busy we are (b/c it makes us feel good/important/worthy) that we ignore the things that are truly important

To deal with this type of mental clutter, we need to take a hard look at our schedules.

• Are there meetings or events that are no longer necessary but that we have yet to let go of?
• Are there things we’re doing out of obligation or habit that no longer serve us?
• Have we filled our schedule and calendar to the brim in order to fill some other void in our lives?

This one is tough but definitely deserves some reflection and analysis.

The benefit of getting this mental clutter out of your brain is that you’ll regain clarity when your brain isn’t junked up with stuff that should be stored elsewhere. You’re no longer anxious that you’ll forget an important appointment or event. You won’t be stressed out because you’re worried you’ll forget something urgent because you know you’ve got a storage and retrieval system that frees your brain up for the truly important things.

Really…there is no sense in cluttering your brain up with information that can be stored elsewhere. Just stop.

Emotional Clutter

Okay, now we’re at the really tough one: the emotional clutter.

This one is more insidious because sometimes we don’t even realize or acknowledge that it’s even there.

But emotional clutter are those pesky emotions you may be deadline with…either consciously or unconsciously.

• This might include the guilt you feel over something in the past.
• It might be the bitterness you feel about some past wrong someone perpetuated towards you.
• It could be regret over a missed opportunity.
• Or it could be fear about something that’s coming up in the future.

There are more examples than we could ever list, but any of the negative emotions (fear, shame, guilt, regret, anxiety, bitterness) can end up causing us to lose sight of our path forward and our bigger goals and plans.

Now we’re not going to be able to totally eliminate negative emotions from our life — they’re going to surface whether we want then to or not — but we don’t have to let them take up permanent residence in our psyche.

Because we’re all human, we’re going to experience negative emotions. I know I’ve felt my share of guilt, jealousy, bitterness, and anger. And sometimes experiencing those emotions helps me change my behavior and try to become a better person.

But when they take up residence and dominate our thoughts they become unproductive, and in fact can become debilitating.

This is where we need to take steps to deal with our negative emotions, process them, and work our way to the other side.

None of us needs to linger in the landscape of negativity for too long.

Now, I am not a medical professional, and sometimes emotions and/or situations require a professional to help us deal with them. When that’s the case, please seek out the help you need.

At other times, though, we may be able to deal with our negative emotions and situations by talking to a trusted friend or advisor. We may find healing through prayer or meditation.

Whatever it takes, it’s worth the time, effort, and energy to clear out the emotional cutter that’s holding us back and preventing us from the clarity we so desperately need.

I’m not saying this is easy. In fact, one of the biggest blows to my own self-image and confidence took me about ten years to get past. Despite the comfort of family and friends, time and distance was what was required to finally leave that episode in the past.

In the mean time, being kind to ourselves is critical. It’s important to remember that none of us are perfect, that everyone makes mistakes, and that all of us require forgiveness at some point in our lives.

Continuing to dwell on mistakes — real or perceived — is unproductive and unhealthy.

Conclusion:

The more you are hanging on to all of the clutter in your life, the more confused you’re going to feel about life in general, and about your purpose and vision specifically. You can regain clarity by decluttering all of the physical, mental, and emotional clutter that’s mucking up your brain.

It’s time to let it go!

You’ll feel happier once all of the mess has been eliminated. You’ll see the world and your life more clearly.

When your home or life is a cluttered mess, you don’t have time or mental energy to think about the big picture. That causes you to lose the clarity and focus that’s necessary for you to move your life forward in a positive direction so that you can achieve all those things you really want.

Regaining your clarity by decluttering will give you the mental, physical, and emotional space you need to pursue your goals and dreams.

Here’s a series of books to help you gain clarity about different aspects of your life. This link is to the entire set, but you can read individual titles for free if you’ve got a subscription to Kindle Unlimited (I love my subscription!).

Positive affirmations can give us inspiration and motivation when we need it. Get your copy of 25 Positive Affirmations to Help You Break Out of Your Comfort Zone today.

Originally published at https://tamingfrenzy.com on February 19, 2024.