Most people are so stressed out that they are not as effective as they could be. Their relationships suffer. They don’t do a good job at work, they break down easily, and can barely handle challenges that life
throws their way.
You have to understand that life is not smooth nor easy. Life, after all, is made up of one unpleasant surprise after another. Some of these surprises can turn out to be positive if you prepare yourself properly.
Sadly, too many people choose not to do this because, at some level or other, they feel that they are entitled for things to be smooth, quick, easy, and convenient. It’s no surprise that so many people are stressed out. Most people are so stressed that they are not as happy and content as they could be.
They focus on what they can get not just today, but tomorrow. They are focused on things that
have already happened. They obsess about past failures, disappointments, and missed
opportunities. They often engage in finding people and situations to blame for things that are
going on in their lives in the here and now.
This is mental clutter. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that not only is this perfectly natural,
but it actually defines who they are as individuals. That’s right; you heard that correctly.
They believe that this is an integral part of their identity as human beings. Talk about missing
the point. Talk about misreading the total picture.
Mental clutter, unfortunately, doesn’t fall out of the sky. It doesn’t appear at random. It is not
something that you luck into. Instead, it is part of a larger equation. Believe it or not, physical
clutter leads to mental clutter, and this produces a self-enforcing mechanism.
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The more mental clutter you suffer from, the more you tend to create physical clutter around
you. And when you see this in your physical surroundings, you stress out and create even more
mental clutter. The process repeats itself over and over again.
It is a negative feedback loop that way too many of us are simply clueless about. If you are in
any way, shape, or form unhappy with any aspect of your life, chances are quite high that you
can trace that unhappiness and discontentment to mental clutter.
This toxic feedback loop holds people back from the life of victory, success, and happiness they
could otherwise be living.
The worst part of this is that it’s invisible. In fact, a lot of us justify this or make excuses for this
to the point that this is what defines us. If somebody were to come into our lives to try to
simplify things, don’t be surprised if you put up a fight.
If somebody told you that a lot of the things that you’re holding on to are unnecessary or even
downright toxic, you would not be alone if you were to push back. You might even be thinking,
“How dare you question me?”, “How dare you insult me? This is part of who I am.”
This is how people instinctively respond to any kind of decluttering maneuver imposed from the
outside. I raised this issue because if you want to change, you have to want to change. It’s one
thing to mentally accept that you have to change, but it’s another to let that mental awareness
sink into the level of your emotions.
That is crucial because unfortunately, until and unless you develop a sense of emotional
urgency regarding what you need to do, nothing will get done. Somewhere along the way, you
would put up some sort of justification.
At some point in time, you would come up with a range of excuses. Now, a lot of this is not
obvious. In fact, in many cases, it seems like you’re saying or thinking about the most natural
things in the world.
This is how people trip themselves up systematically. They know that things have to change.
They know that they are far from happy. They know that they are not living a life based on their
fullest potential. They know what is wrong.
They can make sense of all of this on an intellectual level, but until and unless this sinks to the
level of the heart, no progress is possible because ultimately, they don’t believe it. They don’t
feel it.
What is at stake?
When you stress yourself out because of mental and physical clutter, it doesn’t end with you. You’re not some sort of selfcontained organism that can hold in all these conflicting signals and emotions.
Instead, you end up infecting the people around you.
This negative feedback loop between your material possessions, material environment and your mental and emotional state also plays out in your personal relationships.
Just as physical clutter stresses you out and your mental clutter produces even more physical
clutter, when you are filled with all sorts of toxic emotions, ideas, attitudes, and mindsets, don’t
be surprised if this leaks out. This creates divisions, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and
guess what happens – your relationships get worse and worse.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all your relationships will blow apart. Things are not
that dramatic. Instead, you might end up with passive-aggressive arrangements.
You mind end up in a situation where you are sabotaging each other to emotionally get back at
each other. This can take many different forms but they all lead to the same place – your
relationships.
Instead of building you up and leading to a mutual emotional, psychological, and spiritual
health, it ends up becoming yet another toxic feedback loop. You stress yourself out, you stress
the other people around you, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. It is kind of like a
downward spiral.
The worst part of all of this is that you feel that you can’t let go. You feel that you have to keep
doing what you are doing because to let go means that you miss out, you get left behind, or you
are somehow or someway put in some sort of disadvantage.
I know this sounds almost impossible. It definitely is very frustrating, but the good news is that
you can break out of this. And what is really surprising is that the solution is actually simpler
than you think.
It all centers on the concept of clutter and the many different forms it takes. By simply deciding
to be more proactive and effectively dealing with clutter in your life, you can go a long way in
living the kind of life you want for yourself.
It doesn’t matter how old you are. Maybe you are 50, 60, 70, or you are 18 years old. You are
never too old nor too young to start decluttering your life.
