Decluttering is a great way to refocus your mind – clearing out and rearranging has a great effect on lifting the spirits and raising energy.

Clear out your cupboards

Everyone has that one drawer or cupboard that becomes a dumping ground for odds and sods do they? Sometimes we also forget to pay attention to our kitchen cupboards and wardrobes. How many gadgets have you got hidden that you will never use? Or clothes you will never wear that are too small or too big? For a while, we can turn a blind eye and ignore it. Eventually, it will grab our attention and we just have to deal with it! If we don’t, we run the risk of becoming overwhelmed and we reach a tipping point.

Clutter can get out of hand and it can be a slow process that may be instigated by getting out of the routine of doing daily, weekly or monthly chores. It could be that you collect or hoard things. By replacing old shopping habits with new ones that break old unhelpful ones and encourage a more healthy way of thinking/living can’t be a bad thing for anyone. For instance, are you spending money on clothes that you don’t wear because you can’t find them?

The effect of clutter on our mood

Clutter has a real and negative impact on our mood by creating a mental load. Our eyes register things much like our ears, and we have all had moments where the surroundings have been too noisy to concentrate. (The road works outside, a radio playing too loud, a neighbours’ party when you see quiet in your garden).

Things create a sense of responsibility and negative emotions including overwhelm, those ‘where do I start‘ thoughts. By producing too many stimuli, clutter makes it difficult to focus. Decluttering can help you to dispel those guilty feelings that distract you, ‘I should be tidying but…’,

Source more energy

It’s not the clutter necessarily that is the problem, but more how you react to it. Your brain can’t cope and sends stress/anxiety signals leading to a bad temper, headache, nervousness, defeat, and even depression. Creative people often seem to thrive in what seems to be clutter to others. But if you are surrounded by clutter and it makes you start to fret about it, this drains your energy and you can become fatigued.

These are the clues to do something about it. Reduce the number of items in your cupboards and wardrobe. This will reduce the number of decisions that you make each day. Gok Wan talks about finding your personal uniform, something that suits you and removes the stress of having to decide what to wear each day. Keep the clothes you love and that make you look and feel great.

When our body is fighting poor physical or emotional health, that equates to an energy drain, and so too does repeat tidying, cleaning, and maintenance. The less you have the less you need to do to free up more time to do what you want to do and more energy to do it.

Release more serotonin

Get that feel-good boost with an extra dose of serotonin. We know that when we do something good for others we get a boost of the feel-good hormone serotonin. When we donate our unwanted items, we gain space and energy, the charity gains well-needed funds and someone gets a bargain. Even textiles that are clean and too worn raise money for charity in the form of rags.

Overcome the overwhelm

The best way to start to overcome overwhelm is to not put it off, whatever it is eg, wash your dishes as you go. Embracing habits like this will help you to feel lighter and more capable, you will find you reduce the feeling of needing to tidy up and release more time to do what you want.

Make it irresistible

If your wardrobe is full of great things, your cupboards easy to navigate, and your home full of a few selected items that make you feel that you want to spend time in it, then you are onto a winner.

Remember stuff equals clutter, clutter leads to stress, stress to anxiety, and in turn, this can lead to depression and a desire to make yourself feel better with new things which contribute to the clutter. So break the cycle and make your life irresistible, the best version you could possibly imagine.

If you need help in making those positive changes to your life please do get in touch.