Hope you are enjoying your Saturday Self Care from the Twelve Weeks of Holiday Organizing! Week 2 is wrapping up with 5 Things you Love and 5 Things you Love about Yourself.
In today's age of 2020 (I assume I am not the only one who feels like this is long enough to be an "Age" right?) there is a greater need for self care. We don't get to go through our normal routines. There are a lot of different stresses we are experiencing, many for the first time and a lot all at once.
Specifically, we are doing all of this from our homes. We are in our houses all the time with all the people in our family. I love my house and my family, but being here so much more often has been testing my patience for sure!
How do we use self care to counteract this stress? While everyone has different mechanisms they use - pedicures, shopping, or meditation for example, today I want to highly recommend decluttering and organizing.
Self care is intentional action to take care of one's physical, emotional and mental well being.
Decluttering and organizing are great self care tools for each of these areas, and have a lasting impact beyond the initial process.
Physically
The most obvious impact from decluttering is the physical.
By putting things in a more accessible location, you limit physical stress on your body from juggling other items to get what you want. One example is the effect of no longer crawling or stepping around piles to get to the bottle of wine you want. Maybe you even decided to move the wine to a more convenient location!
When you can see your inventory for a particular household good, like how many rolls of toilet paper you have left, you can know when to add it to your shopping list. This visual queue helps limit your stress.
The transformation on your physical space after you declutter can brighten your mood.
Emotionally
Our belongings can hold a lot of emotional connections, and often we keep items only for the sentimental reasons.
When you see these emotion-loaded belongings, sometimes that can add to stress.
Think about what you have in your new COVID inspired work area, do you have things from your past that bring up mixed emotions?
Keeping something because of the monetary value or the giver does not outweigh the importance of keeping things that make you happy. Keep things you want for you, not for someone else.
I am certainly not saying get rid of all sentimental belongings, just think about keeping the ones that enhance your life and reduce your stress.
Mentally
Your mental well being after decluttering is exactly why I believe in organizing! By having your outer area in order, you allow your inner self - where all your stress is! - to get in order.
When your physical items are in chaos, you cannot expect your self to be in control. Your brain sees and processes the clutter even if you don't think it is impacting you.
Taking care of your home is a manifestation of taking care of yourself. You spend more money via rent or mortgage on your home, you should show it the respect and attention it deserves.
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