Declutter - What? Why? How?

The Quin Co.
Mar, 25 , 22

Ever felt that need to just hibernate like a bear? To just lay down on your bed, surround yourself with the softest and comfortable pillow and binge-watch all your favorite shows, while eating all your favorite things. Of course, everyone feels like doing that once in a while, but what if you feel like that all the time? What if all the time, even getting up from bed is an effort? Felt it! That, my friend, is the sign from your mind, asking you to just pause, rewind, let go and rest.

What does Decluttering mean?

The term declutters, straight from the dictionary, means something along the lines of tidying up or organizing things. It can also be that organized mess, in which quite a few people thrive. The same logic applies to our minds. By decluttering, we are not freeing up our inner consciousness of thoughts. That task is near impossible. All we are trying to achieve is to let go of some of the unwanted weight. Why do you need to hang up on what a stranger down the street commented on you, while you have to focus on completing that SOP for your dream college or job?

Why is Decluttering Important?

Now that we have kind of understood what decluttering means, before discussing ways to declutter, let us first discuss the need for it. Like why is Decluttering important? Why do we need to tidy up our minds?

Optimistic nature: Now that a plan of action is curated, we have a path drawn out for us. Having an aim gives purpose to our tasks and actions. And when we take a step to accomplish something purposeful, we feel like we can do that task no matter what. Those baby steps give us a boost of confidence and thereby adding to our positivity. We feel like we can achieve our goal, filling us with optimism.
Understanding Thoughts: Tidying up anything, for instance, our wardrobe is important to understand what we possess. What is in our possession, which is of importance and what we can get rid of, and of course the classic - "When did I buy that?" In the same way, organizing our minds has a great impact. It lets us know what are the thoughts that are currently dominating our subconscious. Out of those, which are important enough to be pondered upon and which are better off bygone.

Helps us rewind: I know taking a step to pause, rewind and then play may seem like a waste of time. But sometimes, it is that pause button that all of us desperately need. Having to stop and take a breath, gives us space to understand our current predicament, to know where we lay, to analyse our surroundings, to question even if we are going towards the right path!

Increases Productivity: When we declutter our mind and get to know our aims and goals, formulate a plan to achieve those, and then take steps towards implementing the same, we unknowingly add a skip to our steps. Absent-mindedly, we give our best, increasing our productivity levels to the max. Don't believe me? Think back about the time you were preparing for your board exams or college exams. No matter what, we all were able to complete that thick as binder syllabus just overnight. Ever thought about how we did that! Simple, we just let go of all the thoughts clouding our mind, and laser-focused just on studying.

How to Declutter?

We have discussed what Declutter is and why it is important. How about talking about how to do it? There are a variety of ways through which you can declutter. Some of which are discussed below

Take a deep breath and let go: Aside from being a good relaxation exercise, deep breathing is said to increase the expansion of our minds. It is found out in different researches, deep breathing is the best way to declutter. It helps to relieve our body of the mental as well as a physical toll. Taking a breather once in a moment, helps us to calm, collect, comprehend and act better.

Keeping a mood diary: Yes mood, and no we didn't misspell food. In the face of modernisation, self-care is affecting, especially mental health. People are becoming sporadic, and increasingly sensitive to the words of others and ourselves. It has been proven by the Journal of Psychology, jotting down the things which bother our inner peace, is a good way to cut them off for good. Keeping a mood diary, and writing down things that make you feel negative emotions helps you to let go of the thoughts that drag you down, giving you more space to incorporate the ones that lifts you up.

Meditate: Meditation is an age-old technique used to declutter our minds and to be self-aware of our thoughts. It has been practiced for over centuries and is backed up both by science and traditions as a one-way path towards mindfulness. A beginner may begin by channeling all the energy just to understand all that thought traffic and then slowly moving on towards clearing the headspace.

Avoid making too many decisions: Our willpower is equivalent to muscle power. As the muscles become lethargic on repetitive use, so does our mind. Keep the small, mundane things on repeat. Let the daily routine be done on autopilot. For example, it is better to have a fixed set of clothes for all the days of the week, rather than to choose one every morning and stressing the mind over something so regular so early. An exhausted mind is easily cluttered, easily bothered by all the little things which go wrong, thereby adding to the emotional baggage.

Avoid trying to go all at once: Trying to complete your notes, while talking to your friend and listening to the music all at once is not multitasking. It is a recipe for disaster. Not only would you not remember the information you note down, but won't be able to pay attention to your friend or enjoy the melody of harmonizing of your favorites band. Multitasking, in theory, is good. But in practice, it can only be effective while trying to do a daily routine. You can listen to songs while you get ready for work or school. Don't try to juggle important tasks all at once, the feeling of desperation and frustration to finish all is just going to leave you overwhelmed and dejected.

We know, it is easier said than done, that decluttering is not child's play. But, hey, through some trial and error methods, you might be able to create a technique customized just for you. It may take some time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, but once you get a command over it, decluttering would be our new best friend. We always pamper our body, let us pamper our mind too. Decluttering is equivalent to the spa for the mind. Look out for fire alerts and act fast before allowing it to spread like wildfire. Take care of your mind, for, a beautiful body deserves a beautiful mind.

BLOG BY: Yashvi Pansari