Lose the Psychic Weight of Clutter
Do you have a room in home that when you walk into it you just say, “Ughh!”?
These are spaces that are enough out of sight and out of mind that they are the perfect spots to accumulate years of random items. Attics, basements, garages, guest room closets, dining buffet bottom drawers … every home has them!
So why bother? For the most part they don’t affect daily life – the few times a year you have to retrieve something from them is a hassle but rarely hassle enough to raise the daunting task of cleaning out the space to the top of your to-do list.
These spaces may seem benign…not a problem, no worry…but they actually do have quite a presence. Spaces that trigger guilt, shame, inertia, and paralysis contain psychic weight. We know this from the decades of working with clients. Our clients almost universally describe the feeling of clearing out old clutter as having had a huge weight lifted from their backs. They had become used to living with the problem and hadn’t realized just how much of a mental burden putting off dealing with the clutter was. Feeling the relief of the cleared, organized spaces made it crystal clear what a weight they had been carrying in the background of their consciousness.
Observe and measure how you feel in each room of your home. The spaces can be as simple as a drawer, a cabinet or an entire room. Identify where you are being drained:
- Where do you find yourself sighing?
- Is there an area of your home that you completely avoid?
- What space triggers a sense of feeling trapped?
- When you want to use a space that’s cluttered, is it a complete hassle to reclaim it?
- Would you be embarrassed for someone else to see the space?
- Does the thought of dealing with it make you want to take a nap … or go on a trip?
Take stock of how much mental weight you are carrying around. Where is your extra weight hiding? Wouldn’t it feel great to be relieved of the heavy feelings of those spaces?
If you’re inspired to get started, choose a small project or part of a room that you can get through in about an hour. Getting to experience that wonderful sense of relief that comes from making progress will fuel your motivation to go further. If you get stuck, reach out!
