Lessons from 2021 – July *or* How Clutter Impacts Our Thinking

At my office, I have the cleanest desk.  It is so clean that people remark about how organized I appear to be. (LOL) The surface of my desk has work equipment (laptop, keyboard), phone, stapler, pens, and my paper calendar.  That’s it.  Anything else is put away in a drawer or cabinet so the effect is a pretty clean desk.  I find myself really productive in my office except, of course, when interrupted by a person or task.  Since I’ve been working from home and using my home office, I’ve been unable to create this same feeling.  My home office desk is cluttered with these items plus all of my art supplies, paper, files, and just a bunch of things that have no real home space.  When sitting at my desk now, I feel a bit overwhelmed and unable to really think clearly.  The contrast between my home office and my work office – and the level of organization – came to my attention as something needing sorting.

I began to focus on the idea of minimalism, its roots, and why some people really like this style of living.  (The link is a very good explanation of a new channel I found in writing this post.  I plan to check out more of her work.  She couples minimalism and intention which, IMHO, is extremely important.)  I began to wonder what benefits I might achieve with a “less” mindset? Will this impact my intentional thinking about myself, my goals, and dreams if I don’t feel so overwhelmed by my “things” and have a “less is more” mindset?

In the beginning of the Pandemic, I began to rethink my office set up at home to be more like my work set up: streamlined and minimalist.  While my home office served me well when I used the office sporadically, working in the space full time began to create a level of discomfort that I correlated to having a messy desk.  To make my home office similar to my official office, however, is a much more daunting task because the items in my home office have no where else to live.  It’s not like I have all of my art supplies at my desk at work.  In order to make my home office more comfortable, I almost need to reset my entire house because cleaning and organizing one space creates havoc in other areas of the house. (EDIT: Let me be completely honest with you…and myself… about my Pandemic mindset which began fueling this desire to streamline my stuff.  I thought that, if I died, I did not want anyone to have to sift through my “things”.  This was something I wanted to do.  That realization made me see all of my “collections” in a very different way – more like a burden than an achievement.  I also realized that I’d prefer to spend my money on “experiences” and not “things” so getting rid of my “things” really began to weigh on me.  More on that another time.)

To help me better address this claustrophobic feeling in my office space and how to best handle the overwhelm, I began a household “review” of my space, any unused space, and how best to feel less overwhelmed by my stuff.  Now, I don’t have a lot of stuff but what I do have is really unorganized and, frankly, overwhelming.  To experiment, I began to review my china cabinet and take an unsentimental assessment of my “things.” I found that I owned over 40 different wine glasses for a person who does not drink wine.  These glasses have been unused in my cabinet for the past 20 years and have been screaming (OK, not literally) at me to use them.  What I “heard” was this: “I am made for celebrations and parties, not for display!” Glassware has a usefulness so I have always felt okay with collecting it.  However, my wine goblets and pretty crystal stemware were not being used for their intended purpose.  I decided to “rehome” most of them by donating most to my local Habitat for Humanity for resale.  I really believe these glasses were almost happy to be able to grace someone else’s home/table.  Feeling better, I added two platters that were unused (I have three left), two over-sized crystal vases, and some gently-used plastic cake/cupcake carriers.  Immediately, I felt like the energy in my dining room eased a bit: I felt really good about the donation and I realized that there was a bit more air for breathing.  On a roll, I removed a wall hanging from one of my walls in our foyer adjacent to the dining room that I had purchased on a whim and never quite liked.  In its place, I put an older art piece where I liked the aesthetic of the dark frame on a light wall.  I find myself drawn to that area of the house now because the aesthetic pleases me because the air feels lighter. Wow.

I began to wonder why that is?  How can the excess and free space impact me so immediately? I realized through my studies that “things” all have energy and operate at different levels of vibration.  Or, the science of physics.  (I call it ‘thing energy’ as opposed to ‘people energy’.  How original, right?) Some of us are more sensitive to ‘thing energy’ than others; some people can actually feel the vibrations of someone who may have owned the object at one time.  The latter situation is called psychometry which is not my issue for I don’t feel that so keenly and individually.  It is the energy (vibration, maybe?) of the collection of a lot of objects that feels like a wave of something that hits me square in the chest, and makes it difficult to breathe.  Like, I don’t have enough space to find the air in the room.  I’ve always felt “thing energy” quite keenly and am just realizing that my desire for an echoing room is to give myself more creativity and openness.  When I go into a crowded grocery store, I feel overwhelmed by the “stuff;” the same is true in a crowded Department store or anywhere there is a large accumulation of stuff.  I quickly leave the space, feeling claustrophobic and just a sense of overwhelm.  I noticed that I feel a bit like that in my office space, too, which has lead me to really take a critical look at the lack of organization in my office and the idea of the reset was born.

In my experiment and with a mind to my planned office reset, I began to wonder if having my things organized – or put away – tempers the feeling.  Like, if I did not have a china cabinet with glass doors but a buffet with solid wood doors, would the feeling be different because I could not visually “see” all of my things? Hmmm.  I’m not sure.  However, I am going to try an experiment this week on resetting my home office to see if removing and organizing my personal clutter will help me to be more creative and have less stress sitting at my desk.  I plan to remove all of the stuff in my office: desks, computers, chairs, printers, etc. and then place these back with a little more thought as to my desired minimalist aesthetic and concentrating on storage/organization with the goal of a clean desk.  I’d also like to create an area where I do my “work” and an area where I can be “creative.”  Right now, I see these as two distinctly different areas in my room; I wonder if I can change that based on removing or rearranging my stuff.  I’ve decided to also follow this particular YouTuber’s tips; her videos and delivery inspired me to also follow these guidelines.  I’m a new subscriber to her channel and look forward to learning more.  Here are some of her tips that I plan to follow:

1.) Figure out how much time you have and how much time it will take.

I’ve taken a week off of work so that I can separate this into some very doable tasks.  My first task will be to remove everything from the surface that is not heavy furniture.  This includes mail, inboxes, books, pen holders/containers, books (there are a lot of them!), and computer bags and accessories.  In applying the four principles, however, I realized that in order for me to apply #2, below, I need to begin in my guest bedroom to ensure that I have sufficient ability to clear out my office.  (Right now, my guest bedroom closet is spilling out onto the floor.  It is filled with old formal wear that no longer fits, concert t-shirts from the 80s, empty hangers, and all of my holiday decorations.  It is time to clear that close because if my green blazer ever fit again, the shoulder pads would rival Joan Collins’ best day and, frankly, I’d never wear the jacket anyway unless it was Halloween and I was revisiting 40 years of history.)  Yes, my personal clutter has gotten so bad that in order to clear out an entire room of my house, I need to clear a place to put the stuff out of the way.) So, before I can even work on the office, I plan to de-clutter my guest bedroom closet first which, having done my own closet years ago, should be relatively straight-forward.  Once my guest bedroom closet is straightened up, I plan to then begin my office de-clutter.  (Now you know why I planned a full week for this.)

As I put things back into the office, I will then consider if I want to keep the item, addressing what purpose the item serves, and ensuring everything has its own place.  If the item does not have a place, then it is not needed and will be thanked for its service, and discarded or donated.  This allows me to get the office down to the walls and carpeting, and really get a feel for the office while also honoring the vibration of my “things.”

2.) Minimize distractions.

This will be difficult for me because moving and decluttering create their own “rabbit holes” of memories.  I like Nourishing Mom‘s idea of the “to put away” box which helps to keep me focused on the task and not going into another room to then work in that room.  However, because I realized that I will need to make room in my guest bedroom to temporarily move things from the study, I’ll need to separate this into two projects because I will find myself overwhelmed with now having two rooms to declutter.  I’m already expecting that I will need to purchase cabinets and/or organizational tools to help me better place my things.  Before I just go out willy-nilly to purchase something, I want to be really sure on where it is, what it is, and how I will use it.  (See #4.)

3) Its going to take more than one pass.

I totally agree with the idea that both my guest bedroom closet and my office will need a few passes of critical assessment because after a while of making the hard decisions to relieve one of clutter, I can and do become a bit more emotional.  In the cleaning of my personal closet, it has taken me quite a few passes and, unfortunately, I did not pay attention to tip #4 below and have created a new mess for myself in my closet.  My closet organization is not as bad as before but can get there if I don’t soon intervene.

4) Avoid recreational shopping.

I realize now that I shopped out of boredom or wanting a new experience of buying a thing.  What I was looking for was a panacea of sorts, a relief from my mental burden where I stifled my creativity.  This is a lesson from the Pandemic that I’ve learned and wish to correct.  I used to enjoy shopping and would purchase anything I wanted because I could – even if I really couldn’t.  This created a poor habit of addressing my own mental discomfort through the purchase of a new dress or lipstick instead of addressing the real source of my unrest.  My shopping over the past 18 months has become very specific because a weekly excursion to the mall just wasn’t part of anyone’s plan.  The allowed me to see just how I’ve “coped” throughout my life, and be able to feel better by addressing the real issue.

That’s the plan for my office reset or starting over.  In researching the “how to” of my project, I found Joshua Becker’s channel quite helpful, too, and found that I already do many of his tips in this video.  This made me feel a bit better about my starting point and helped me to see that I can continue to improve.  I’m very curious to see that, if after I’ve completed my project, if I’ll feel different about sitting in the space, or if I’ll need to move my office into my foyer! I’m intrigued because of the idea that we are all energy fields that can be manipulated, including objects that would appear to be solid.  Every object in our world vibrates at different rates which creates their form.  There are millions of possibilities depending on the object, placement, temperature…the combinations are endless and miraculous, aren’t they?  When you think about the world at large, with all of the people, places, and things, the world is vibrating all around us.  How can you not feel overwhelmed at times?  Wishing you peace this July 4th.

[EDIT: And, as if the world is blessing this post, one of my favorite O.G. YouTubers, Renee Amberg, just posted this video.  I love Renee’s videos as they show her transitions and struggles which make me feel less alone in my own journey.  She discusses all things very honestly, openly and does not sugar-coat her experiences.  Definitely worth the watch just for the inspiration alone.]

Keto Update: For those of you keeping up with all things Keto, I’m still doing well.  Seeing some improvement on my psoriasis and my weight is stable.  It is going up and down since my carbohydrate restriction isn’t as low as I’d like it to be.  I’m under 100 carbs a day – usually around 50.  This works for my “right now” time as I continue to adjust.  I’m learning that there are some foods, while lower in carbohydrates, are not good for me to have in the house.  Dr. Atkin’s bars are something other worldly delicious and I’m not to be trusted with them. Yet.  In all things, there is progress.