Does De-Clutter Equal De Stress?
November 12, 2008
For the last couple of weeks, I have been under a LOT of stress. Sometimes my coping mechanism consists of spending all my free time in bed with the television and a generous helping of something calorie laden and delicious.
But I found a nice wallet/planner while shopping a few days ago and found that it was just as satisfying, if not more (and a lot less fattening!) to transfer all my addresses and phone numbers from the old one to the new one. I started a fresh checkbook register, put all my important dates into the planner, found a home for all my cards, change, bills, checks, etc.
I realized that when my life feels out of control, I like to take control of one small, personally satisfying piece of it and make it perfect. Now it’s not quite the same to reorganize my kitchen cabinets. Although that does give me a sense of order and control, I know that it’s public domain in my home and will probably get undone in no time at all.
There’s something about putting in order something that no one else can undo; a purse or wallet, or my desk at work. Something that is all mine and gives me a sense of myself and the order I would like to have in the rest of my life right now. Is that as weird as it looks now that it’s in writing?
Leave me a comment and let me know how you use organizing to de-stress. Or to let me know I’m strange. 🙂
Hi.
I feel ya. I have on my desk at the moment four notebooks I created recently to ‘get organized’ with some aspect of my life. I have little colored tab-flag things, index cards, extra cover material, adhesive tabs, labeler, etc. all within easy reach so I can tweak whenever I want. 🙂
While I was on a boring conference call, I filed emails (went from 500+ down to 200-some, not bad) and cleaned up my desk a bit.
Last night in the bath, relaxing before bed, I reread a section from “It’s all too much” and contemplated chucking all of my fiction onto Craigslist for the first respondent (a six-foot shelf unit, with books in double layers on each shelf).
OTOH, I’m dreading the kids’ rooms. They need to be culled pre-Christmas haul. *sigh* And I’m looking forward with equal eagerness and dread to the kitchen remodel, and the remodeling of other rooms.
I think the little stuff is less stressful in itself–it only affects me, I don’t have to argue with anyone else, I don’t have to please anyone else.. It’s also quickly done. 🙂
shris
Exactly!
Ooh, I don’t envy the kitchen remodel. We had a new floor put in and that was awful, but only took a couple of days. I can’t imagine a couple of weeks or more!
Eva Wallace’s last blog post..Does De-Clutter Equal De Stress?
This makes a great deal of sense! Especially for us moms who have few things in the private domain.
Elizabeth’s last blog post..Teach Your Kids to FLY!
I couldn’t agree more.
In fact I am finding it to be my major de-stressing find.
When I am feeling anxiety, I declutter something. It works instantly.
On the flip side, nothing makes me more anxious than clutter and disorganization.
Not to sound neurotic, I’m definitely not, there is plenty of ‘out of order’ around here, but there is a tipping point, and once it’s reached, my stress level gets tipped too :0)
It makes me wonder if in this world of so many anti anxiety pills amidst the hurry up world that speeds by so fast we no longer are present in the moment long enough to look after or even acknowledge our belongings sometimes – maybe some dr prescribed declutter time might be a better solution.
Jan – queenofkaos’s last blog post..A Whole New Way of Christmas Shopping
I visited my sister in CA for Thanksgiving with my husband, it was a good time and great dinner. On Friday she had to work part of the day and we were stuck at home in her house. I decided to clean her kitchen drawers and reorganize them for her. I kept aside anything that I was not sure to toss which was only about 5 business cards. She had not gone thru the drawers since she moved in 6 yrs ago. My husband sharpened her knives, I also ran the oven cleaner, delimed the dishwasher, tea kettle and faucets, replace old smoke alarms, fire ext., replaced furnace filter and cut the cats claws. When she came home she was so excited and told me how this removed all her stress as she had not know where to start on this project. All this after she gave me her protein shake in the AM, it engerized me. I was happy to do it for her, she works hard and has a great home. She said this gave her the courage to tackle her garage which really isn’t bad at all.
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