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Hello and welcome to the Own Your Health Podcast. I'm Cyndi Lynne, and I can't wait to help you step into your health power. We're continuing our Happy New Year fall series. Talking about decluttering. And I know there's a lot out there on the topic, everything from absolute minimalism to holding everything you own in your hand and deciding if you love it.
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I take a much more practical approach and I start with the definition, what exactly is clutter? So clutter is highly individual to someone who's a true minimalist.
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An extra item on a table may be considered clutter and have to go or be distracting to other folks. Having their things around them is a very comforting measure. So I define Clutter is an excess of items, materials, clothes, trinkets, everything, anything that actually causes distraction.
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So what does that mean? If I walk into a room and I look at the tables and I see pictures of people that I love and Vases with flowers or, or items, pieces of art, art glass that we've collected, that's beautiful and it's nurturing.
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If I walk in and see empty glasses and coasters and items that just got set down or items that don't have any other place, and we'll talk about those shortly, that's clutter. And it takes mental energy. When you see those spaces, whether it's your desk, the end of the kitchen counter, which in our house is always collecting clutter, any of these spaces, maybe it's your bathroom counter, maybe it's your closet.
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When there's more possessions than you enjoy having, it actually takes mental energy. You see those things, you may think to yourself, I have to do something with that. I really should go through that closet.
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I should get rid some things. I should find a place for that. And those messages in your brain over and over take a tremendous amount of energy. And over time, they actually impact your self confidence because they impact your trust in yourself.
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Because very often you'll look, you'll say, I need to do something about that. It doesn't hit the critical to do list for any given week. So you don't. And yet you're coming back over and over again saying, I have to do something about this someday. Even after a period of time where your conscious mind doesn't notice it anymore, your subconscious mind continues to play those messages and it continues to take a tremendous amount of energy from your day.
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So I'm going to give you three questions you can ask yourself to help determine if your space is comfortable for you, if you really are living with things the way you like them, and if so, fabulous. No matter how many items that is, or if there's areas that you want to pare back, first of all, ask yourself, does this item serve its purpose?
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All right, whatever you got this item for, does it continue to do that? Or have you outgrown, this item? Have you replaced it with subsequently different, better, larger, more functional items? I find myself saving kitchen stuff that I've had for many years, when in fact I've got much nicer, more efficient, healthier pots and pans that I can use.
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I tend to hang on to some of the old ones just because. So those things are no longer serving a purpose for me. Yep, there's still a pot. They'll still cook, but they aren't serving the purpose that I got them for. The same is true with clothing.
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Is it serving the purpose? And if it's not serving the purpose any longer, then let it fall away in this fall new year decluttering phase, let it fall away if it no longer serves its purpose for you.
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Secondly, does this item, any item that you want to choose, have a place in your home? So if you're displaying it on a table, is it displayed in a, place of pride and emphasis, or is it buried under a bunch of other stuff?
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If it's dishes, if it's clothes, if it's, just about anything, does it have a place in your home? And this, this is one of those situations where I have things in the house that I catch every once in a while that's like, oh, my gosh, this, this doesn't have a home in my home.
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And I can tell because if I'm cleaning and I set it off to the side in the guest bedroom, for example, and then if guests come and I have to take it out of the guest bedroom because it doesn't actually belong in there, I'm like, okay, this thing doesn't have a place.
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What am I going to do about it? Is it because I don't really want it? Is it because I haven't taken time to make a place for it, which means potentially clearing out that type of thing that no longer serves a purpose? Is it one of those things where if I'm going to make a place in my closet for these items, do I have to get rid of other clothes that no longer serve their purpose?
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If it's dishes, which I have a penchant for dishes, do I need to rearrange? Do I need to clean? Do I need to sort Do I need to get rid of things? What do I need to do? Because if I really want this, it needs to have a home. In my home or my office, whatever the case may be.
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And finally, are you keeping these items for yourself or for someone else? And here I'm not talking about storing something for someone else. That's a different issue. You can work through that. I'm talking about keeping an item because it's from Aunt Hilda, an item because the neighbor gave it to you, or it was there when you moved into the house and you really feel bad getting rid of it, or it's too good to get rid of.
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That's keeping something for someone else. If you're keeping it for yourself, it's because it serves a purpose for you. And even if that's just pleasure, even if it's just something you like to look at, even if it's just art, Art is something that comes up frequently when I talk to clients about this.
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When I say, does it serve a purpose? And they're like, well, no, it just hangs on the wall and looks good, or it just sits on. That's a fabulous purpose, and that's a great reason to keep things if it truly serves that purpose, if you still really like it. But if you're keeping something for someone else that you need to let fall away, you need to keep and remember the sentiment that they gave the item to you.
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If it was wedding gifts that you got 30 years ago came from an aunt and uncle, came from whomever think of them, be grateful for their thoughts for you and for the sentiment. But you don't have to keep the items. If you're keeping something because it's sentimental to you, that's very different.
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Because you're keeping it because it makes you feel good. It prompts memories from you. If you have a favorite mug or a favorite serving dish or a favorite book that you no longer necessarily read, but it's gifted to you from someone, and it means a tremendous amount to you.
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When you still pull it out and you look at it, then that's sentimental, and that's okay. That's a perfectly good reason to keep something. If it's sentimental to you and not just because the person giving it to you had some sentiment attached to it.
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There's been items that have passed through families for many, many years where the last two or three generations haven't really wanted it. They don't really like it. They don't really need it. Our lives are structured very different now than they were in days past. So things don't automatically become functional to us.
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They don't automatically become Or they don't automatically serve a purpose to us just because they did to previous generations. Now when I say let things fall away, we can sell things, we can donate things, we can find someone who absolutely loves these particular items because thankfully we all have very different taste.
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But an item that doesn't serve a purpose, that doesn't have meaning to you, that doesn't merit a home within your home is pretty much guaranteed to be clutter. And clutter takes a tremendous amount of mental energy that we don't want to spend.
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So as you're mapping out this new year, as you're making your plans, as you're growing into the person that you want to be, let's leave some clutter behind. Now if you need help with this, absolutely reach out. I'd be happy to talk with you.
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And until next week, let's go out and own it. The information contained in this podcast is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical advice. I am a nurse, but I'm not your nurse.
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Please see your personal health care provider for any concerns.
