De-cluttering and organizing your home does a lot more than free up cabinet space and eliminate paper piles. It has a tremendous impact on your mental health, as well.
Living in a cluttered environment day-in and day-out drains your energy and distracts your focus. Clutter often causes feelings of shame, guilt, incompetence and hopelessness. These can lead to depression, which in turn paralyzes you against making any positive changes to your home, and a downward cycle begins. But there is hope!
Find Your “WHY?” to Help Break the Depression > Clutter Cycle
Just as clutter can spiral downward, organization can cycle upwards.
First, give some thought to what makes you truly happy. For most of us it has nothing to do with possessions. Meaningful relationships, activities with family and friends, hobbies, a job or volunteer work that contributes something to the greater good of the world ~ these are the things that bring most of us real and lasting joy.
Clutter can keep you from these activities.
- It drains your energy so you don’t feel like participating in things.
- You think “should” be working on your home and don’t let yourself go do those other fun things.
- Maybe you’re too embarrassed by the condition of your home to invite friends or family in.
A list of what really matters to you gives you a “WHY” ~ the motivation to dip your toe into the process of purging items that have served their purpose in your life. How ~ specifically ~ will your life be better when you have less stuff in your home?
Your “why” also keeps you going when the process is difficult. By opening your physical space you also free up mental space to focus on the people and things most important to you. Your depression will begin to subside a bit.
Baby Steps to an Organized Home
Depression is exhausting. Exhaustion stops you from working for any length of time. So start small. I often tell my clients, “Forward progress is still progress, even if it is slow.” Here are 5 quick and relatively-easy spots to kick off your home organization quest:
- Kitchen utensil drawer
- Sock drawer
- One stack of old t-shirts
- Desk drawer of office supplies (not files!)
- Laundry room cabinet of detergents and cleaning supplies
As you begin to get some of the clutter out of your home, you will find your mood lifting a little. The lessening of the weight of depression will increase your energy level. As space starts to open up in your house you will get momentum and motivation to do more. Balance the time you spend purging clutter with returning to some of the activities you love. Having a bit of fun in your life eases the depression some more…thus giving you even more energy and motivation to keep working on the clutter situation.
See where I’m going with this? Just as clutter and depression can spiral downward, they also feed off each other in an upward, positive way. Yes, it will be challenging and yes, it may take a long period of time to get your home in the clutter-free shape you desire. But I promise it will be worth the effort. There is freedom and joy and goodness on the other side of clutter!
