A Simple Step to a Stress-free Home
In the January/February 2008 issue of Health the article “Secrets to a Stress-free Home” proposes that our homes are our sanctuaries or they can be by following a few steps to set up a feeling of serenity. The article suggests that one way to a stress-free home is a calm entry way.
What does your entry way look like? Do you feel calm and relaxed when you enter your home? If your answer was no, you can take the first step to clearing your entry way of clutter by getting things out of sight. For example place gloves, hats and other outerwear in baskets or drawers.
You can set the stage for calm by spending 15 minutes on your entry way. Take that first step in the next 24 hours and breathe a sigh of relief.
The Clutter-Stress Syndrome
Clutter causes anxiety and stress. It distracts us. In fact it can contribute to a vicious clutter-stress cycle.
If you are trying to deal with the clutter in your life or if you desire to free yourself from the clutter-stress cycle, you need to recognize the root cause of your clutter as the first step to becoming clutter free.
Do you have clutter for any of these reasons:
- Are you avoiding something?
- Do you fear failure?
- Have you changed and weren’t prepared for it?
- Do you want to retreat?
- Are you holding on to someone or something the past?
For example, do your bills pile up because you don’t want to deal with your finances? Or do you keep your house unsightly because you don’t want to deal with visitors? What about that closet or basement? Are there too many memory joggers about a previous relationship?
Understanding the underlying reason for the clutter in our lives is truly a first baby step in becoming more organized.
Why Do You Keep Clutter?
Each of us has a different reason for why we keep clutter. Here are some of the possible ones:
- “Just in case”
- Status symbol
- Security
- Inherited “clutteritis”
- A belief that more is better
- Using clutter to suppress emotions
- Territorialism
- Identity
Do any of these sound like reasons you have clutter? You may even have other reasons for keeping clutter around you.
Sometimes we may even use clutter as an excuse.
So acknowledge the reasons for your clutter and start asking these two simple questions:
- Where would I be without clutter in my life?
- What would I be doing if clutter didn’t obstruct me?
Hazards of Clutter…
Clutter can impact your life in various ways. Sometimes we don’t even realize it. Clutter in your life can:
- burden your mind
- make you feel tired or lethargic
- keep you in the past
- confuse you
- affect how people treat you
- make you procrastinate (even more)
- cause disharmony
- make you feel ashamed
- make you disorganized
- create excess baggage
- cause extra cleaning
- create undesirable symbology
- cost you financially
- dull your sensitivity and enjoyment of life
Clutter can get in the way of life. It can cause you to put your life on hold and can distract you from important things. How is clutter impacting you? Is your clutter stopping you from moving forward?
Defining Clutter
Clutter simply is the excess stuff in our lives. It is:
- anything you do not use or love.
- anything that is untidy or disorganized.
- too many things in a too small space.
- anything that is unfinished.
Clutter drags you down, drains you of energy and causes negative feelings…just walk into a cluttered room. How do you feel?
Clutter is anything that you want to let go of but haven’t yet. What is currently cluttering your life?
Daily Actions…Take the First Step
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” ~John C. Maxwell
Do you say yes to all requests for your time? Are you doing the things that are most important to you?
What is the difference between what you do on a daily basis and your mission statement? Are the things on your “to do” list focused on your mission?
So if you say that being fit and healthy is part of your mission (your destination); why aren’t you fitting in fitness regularly? If you are looking for a new job; what did you do today toward that goal?
In her book “Stop Screaming at the Microwave!: How to Connect to Your Disconnected Life” Mary LoVerde proposes a way around the barriers that often prevent us from doing what we know is best. She says “…microactions, these teeny, tiny steps propel us forward without threatening our sense of control. We all hate to be told what to do- even if we are telling ourselves. We need to outfox our resistance to change.”
So where are you headed (have you written your mission statement yet)? What is the first little step can you take today toward your destination? Me? I am putting on my exercise clothes…
“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” ~Peter Marshall