How to Live a Simple Life

HOW TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE BY DECLUTTERING

I once heard a story of a woman who went through a divorce and five years later, purchased a huge five-bedroom house in an expensive zip code. She felt God was telling her to sell the house and downsize but how could she give up her nice house in a zip code that gave her status? So, instead she held on to it for about a year or so until finally she obeyed. She downsized and simplified her life. And according to her, when she moved into a smaller house, she said she suddenly had so much more time and energy, she found that she could focus more earnestly on her writing, which was something she had not been able to do previously with all the repairs, chores, and decorating of the previous house.

It is time to declutter your life - whatever that may look like for you. Maybe it is that one closet that is perpetually locked and forbidden for anyone to see because it is so messy, stuffed with years and years of collection of things. Or maybe it is your work desk that has papers, pens, and pencils, sticky notes, agendas, and all sorts laid all over it that you barely have a clean space to work from. Or maybe it is your mind, bombarded with thoughts that are holding you back or tormenting you, negative and self-limiting thoughts that tell you that you cannot do it. Or maybe it is your car, the same one that you have been telling yourself to clean. It has been on your to-do list, but it keeps hopping from this week's list to the next and to the next without ever getting done. Whatever it is for you, friend, it is time for some decluttering.

BENEFITS OF DECLUTTERING OUR LIVES

1. Boost Your Mood, Improving Your Physical and Mental Health

Decluttering your life, be it a room in your house, your desk, or your mind creates a calming and peaceful environment. Research has found that clutter can not only make a person cranky but also sends a visual signal that things are not in the place that you want them, which leads to sadness, anger and even self-deprecation. Yikes!

2. Increased Productivity

Having a clear space and/or mind energizes you into a productive mode. A clutter-free desk and workspace provides a clean and organized environment that minimizes distractions. When your workspace is clear, you can focus and concentrate better on the task at hand.

Having a clutter-free workspace saves you time because you can quickly access what you need without having to stop and spend so much time looking for things.

3. Sharpens Your Focus

There was a season in my life when my mind was so cluttered, and I could not focus on anything else but my cluttered mind. My creativity level plummeted and as a result I became very unproductive. I could not think or focus on the task I was supposed to be engaged in. However, when I was finally able to pull myself out of that funk, it was as if the floodgates of creativity were opened to me, and creative ideas came rushing in. I was able to create and write once again, and the same is true for a clogged-up space.

4. Relieves Anxiety

You may be wondering how decluttering your space, even your work desk, relieves anxiety. Well, according to a study by Princeton University, researchers discovered that our environment can positively or negatively impact our ability to complete tasks as well as our overall mental health. A cluttered space makes for a cluttered mind, which makes for a cluttered life.

And guess what, another study by the University of Connecticut found that by removing or controlling clutter, we can directly reduce the stress that stems from the mess which can help us to feel happier, less anxious, and more confident in ourselves. Now, doesn’t that sound great?

Clutter can be overwhelming, but the good news is that it can be removed or organized. One of the strategies I use in my home to control clutter is to incorporate decluttering into my daily or weekly routine. I choose a different section of the house each day to clean and declutter, and of course my children’s activity room is always the most chaotic place. So, when they were toddlers, we implemented a rule that whatever they are not immediately playing with, should be tidied up immediately to keep our everyday mess manageable and prevent clutter-induced overwhelm or anxiety.

So, while yours may not be to sell and downsize from your five-bedroom house, I believe we can all agree that the principle remains the same. Whether you call it downsizing or decluttering, or getting organized, when we do any of the above, we move towards simplifying our lives or lifestyle.

So, friend, what area of your life can use a good spring-cleaning type of decluttering right now?

References:

Beckwith, A., & Emma Parkhurst, E. (2022). The Mental Benefits of Decluttering. Utah State University.

https://extension.usu.edu/mentalhealth/articles/the-mental-benefits-of-decluttering