Decluttering

We have lived in our home for 17 years.  Our children have grown up here, and we have acquired many things.  Every space in our home seems to be bursting, and as I look around, I know that it is time to sit down and do a deep sort to figure out what we keep and what we release.  

For some people in our home, this process of sorting and releasing is more straightforward than for others.  I tend to land on the side of we don’t use that anymore, so let’s get it out of this space, while another member of the family can tell you a story about each item they wish to keep - who gave it to them, why it matters to them, and why they can’t possibly let it go.  

Decluttering isn’t that fun.  It is actually a bit tedious.  It means taking time to go room by room and handling the items in that room to determine what stays and what goes.  And while it might not be that fun, it does help us to be less overwhelmed.  

It is essential for us to not only declutter our physical spaces but our mental ones as well.  

The other day, I was on a Zoom call and had to share my screen.  The person I was talking with could see all my open search tabs.  There were many of them; I had been working on several projects and probably had 50 tabs open.  I just counted as I’m typing this; there are still 40 open!  We both commented on how our brains feel like we always have open tabs.  

Have you ever sat down to pray, and as you are praying, thoughts about what you need to do next pop into your mind?  Or maybe you set aside 15 minutes for silence, and it takes 14 minutes to still your thoughts so you can sit in silence?  

Of course, we will sometimes get distracted, but sometimes we need to pay attention to what is popping up in our mind so we can notice if it needs our attention.  

Most of us probably have multiple tabs open in our brain at one time - things we need to remember for work, something we need to pick up for school, an appointment we can’t forget to attend, a friend who is sick - and it can be complicated to determine what we allow to take up space in our brain.  

A good decluttering can be helpful.  

When there are open tabs in our minds, it can be helpful to grab a notebook and jot down each item.  Naming what we are thinking about can help us figure out the details.  

Some items can be added to our calendar, allowing us to plan and prepare while clearing up space in our minds.  But some items aren’t calendar items.  If you have a friend who is sick, their well-being might be taking up a lot of space in your mind daily.  You can’t relegate this to your calendar, so you must notice how it might also impact your other commitments.  Do you have the mental and emotional bandwidth for everything you have said yes to? 

Take time to assess: 

What are the tabs you have open in your brain right now?  What would it look like if you could close some of those tabs?  What would it look like if you noticed that some tabs need far more time and attention than what you’ve been giving them?  Do you have room to open new tabs?  

~  Melissa