Decluttering and Anxiety

Decluttering is the art, yes the art, of getting rid of all the junk we have that’s just been lying around.  I think when you’re first married, people just dump stuff on you because you don’t have anything.  Of course, you are desperate and need these things, but you can only have so many measuring cups and random little boxes.  After a while, this stuff just becomes trash you want to get rid of ASAP.

While preparing for this move, decluttering has drastically changed my life.  Although it took us several weeks to sort through our stuff, it made moving so much easier in the long run.  To be honest, we did bring some junk with us to our current apartment, but as I’ll explain in the coming weeks, I’ll be going through that a little bit at a time.

Thanks to this Pinterest article for making me aware of the fact that clutter can actually cause anxiety.  All the stuff triggers your senses, wears you down, and makes you feel like life is out of control.  I want to give every single thing the attention that it deserves but I can’t.

So decluttering helps me take ownership of the things that I can control, the things that I  can give attention.  The other things can be donated to other people so that they can give them the attention they deserve.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us to throw off everything that keeps you from running the race of faith.”  Notice how it says everything that hinders and sin; that implies there are other things that aren’t sin but are keeping us from running our race.  If I’m running a race and I’m trying to carry all my stuff with me, I would get worn down and probably want to give up!

God also calls us many times in Scripture to be good stewards of what we have.  If I have thirty shirts that I’m never going to wear sitting in my closet, I’m not being a good steward of my stuff.  If I kept all these shirts, my closer would be packed and I would have to move everything else around to accommodate space for these shirts.  I also am depriving the opportunity for someone who needs a shirt to have one.

Over the next few weeks,  I will be talking about clutter and how to get rid of it for the sake of your mental, physical, and spiritual health.  I am no expert, but I can tell you from a lady who is completely new at this how easy it is to declutter.  I’m going through this process with you, and I already feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Before I write anything else, I want to give you permission to declutter.  You can get rid of that blanket that your great-grandmother made for your cousin’s uncle’s wife’s daughter that has somehow gotten passed down to you.  You can get rid of those report cards from kindergarten that basically said you know how to spell “C-A-T.”  And yes, you can get rid of those pants that you’ve been saving for when you lose those extra pounds!

Take a look at a space in your house, whether it’s a room, a closet, or a small area, and look at five items that you can trash, donate, or give to someone else.  Before I even write about how to declutter, you will already have begun the journey!

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Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

While this picture does not represent clutter, I did not want to give anxiety to my readers by putting up an anxious picture.  Here is what our space should look like without all the clutter!