Love Letter 9: Clutter
It blocks our flow!
Dear Reader,
I've just moved house, which is why you haven't heard from me in a while.
Oh my goodness... how much stuff can two people have?????!!! 🫣
Credit to whoever took this photo… i’ve had it in my files for years!
This move has cost us over US$12,000... plus a lot of physical effort... not to mention precious time - 4 months that we could have invested into our art!
So even more than $12K, really!
I'm just going to put it simply:
GET RID OF UNNECESSARY CLUTTER FROM YOUR LIFE !
Have a look around your house...
How many of each thing do you have?...
Can you move around easily without bumping into things?
Are your rooms stacked up to the ceiling with stuff you love - or once loved - but now haven't got the heart to throw out for purely sentimental reasons?
How does it make you feel?... Happy? Or overwhelmed?
Did you know that clutter is one of the biggest reasons why people get anxiety?
Clutter Wordcloud: ‘Stop The Timebomb!’ (- image by Jo Huber)
Depression, stress, fatigue, excessive weight gain, difficulty concentrating, hopelessness, despair - all are seriously impacted by clutter. Clutter is attached to having a sense of lack, a sense of loss... and can even rob us of our creativity. That's what happened to me.
I don't feel the need to point you to external references, as this is my own account of what I've been through... but for those who prefer the evidence, see 'The Link Between Clutter & Your Mental Health' in the 'References/Recommended Reading' section at the end of the newsletter.
BUT WHAT ABOUT MESS?
Just to clarify - I am not talking about mess, here.
As an artist, i often live with mess in my private environment, because i have chosen mess over perfectionism! 😜
What I am referring to, here, is the overwhelming lack of control of how much we own and how much of that we actually really need to keep in order to survive.
I have seen homes where people can barely move from one room to the next without bumping around on huge long sofas or massive floor statues, huge house plants that take up so much space that the residents can barely use for themselves, or cellars full of collectibles that they haven't looked at in years, stacked up to the ceilings! The psychological effects of clutter are immense - and very, very sad.
Moving house again and again only because we have too much stuff is just exhausting! (- Photo by Dom Huber)
I love The Beatles and was an avid collector of memorabilia for decades. When we moved from Australia to Europe, the majority of my things stayed at my parents' house until i managed to get a big enough apartment. Turkish Airlines were boasting a great reputation at the time, so my parents trusted their ads and had my belongings flown to me via their airline. Many of my things arrived ripped, damp or torn. I filed a damages complaint, but Turkish Airlines ignored it. I was also left with massive damages to my precious collection and even my uni diploma had a huge scratch through it! 🥲
The collecting continued. We were getting more and more cramped, so we moved to a bigger house. It was still a lot of stuff, so we had to put a lot of it in the cellar.
One day, a water pipe burst and all the cellars got flooded! I lost 1/3 of my beloved Beatles collection that i thought i'd insured in the house contents - turns out it.was.not.insured!!
Collectibles need a special contents insurance!
So we moved again - into a gorgeous Swiss heritage house from 1890 - with a bigger cellar. And a mould problem! 😑
Half of the 2/3 of what was left of the collection was damaged - quicker than i was able to unpack it in time to take it upstairs! Including my entire university notes and assignments, years of creative writing, music, and a lot of stuff i didn't even know i'd had, because some hadn't been unpacked since 1999!
I fell into a massive depression that lasted for years, making me more and more ill. It cost me thousands and thousands to "fix" myself again.
And now here we are, having moved again; only this time we were seeking peace and quiet. Needless to say, i have stopped collecting anything anymore.
Did you know that according to the Chinese practice of feng shui, living in clutter actually blocks the flow of energy in our life? That means our physical energy, our patience, our ability to concentrate while reading or when someone's talking to us, and even the flow of MONEY in our life? Not to mention the danger of being unable to evacuate quickly in case of a fire! 🔥 🚒
So if you're feeling exhausted or down next time, ask yourself if there's any clutter in your house that you could get rid of. In fact, why wait? Look around your environment right now and see if anything is blocking your way to your bedroom, or even within your bedroom, and remove it, re-arranging your room until you can move around freely. Then watch and see the flow of energy return in your life in the form of creativity!
Look out for any extra money coming in, you having more energy when you do a task... and even just a general feeling of lightness in yourself and your environment.
Feel free to comment with your experience below. I always love hearing from you!
Love & Decibels,
xx jo xx
(- Image by ZensationalLiving)
Tip from Rhonda Byrne: “If you want more money in your life, look inside your wallet; does it have space for money to come in, or is it full of useless pieces of paper and receipts? Clear them out and watch money begin to come into your life!” 💰
REFERENCES:
Steele, C. (2020): The Link Between Clutter and Your Mental Health. Queensland, Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association (website)
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BookAuthority have compiled a list of 53 best-selling books of all time on clutter and hoarding - click on the writing in red to be taken to the website.
If you want to help a hoarding parent, this book might be perfect for you. Again, click on the words highlighted in red to be taken to the website.
There are also two courses on DailyOM to help rule out clutter once and for all from your life and experience the true freedom of space in your life:
CLEARING PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL CLUTTER - by Stephanie Bennett Vogt (365 Lessons!)
The distinction between clutter and mess is really interesting/insightful!
P.S It's great to connect. I just followed you on Twitter :)
I recently cleared my desk and immediately found I could think better. I'm a terrible hoarder but recently I've been getting did of books +charity shops): what a wrench! Recently we had to clear my in-laws' house. It was like Mary poppins bag: every time we thought we'd emptied a cupboard or a room, more stuff materialised. Seventy year's worth of stuff, including balls of string, runs of screws etc etc. But decluttering takes too much willpower!