Why Clutter Affects Your Health and What to Do About It

Dealing with clutter is usually not high on the “To-Do” list for most of us because it doesn’t seem all that appealing! However, it is well worth addressing this issue in life because it has a negative affect on your health. If it has been ignored for some time, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Just knowing where to start can be a nightmare in itself. But, clutter of any kind can destroy your health and is worthy of investing the time to get things cleaned up and organized.

Do you feel anxious and overwhelmed knowing that you have a bunch of projects to tackle? If so, it is probably showing up in your body somewhere. Perhaps it’s your stomach in the form of butterflies, tension in your neck and shoulders, or tightness in your chest. Clutter in your environment might very well be the reason, and addressing it can be the solution to improving your health.

When you look around your home or office, how do you feel?

Do you feel peaceful and calm, or do you feel irritated and uneasy knowing that certain things require your attention? Have you been meaning to file away papers, go through a stack of magazines and unopened mail, organize your closets, donate clothes you haven’t worn for over a year (perhaps it still has the store tag on it!), or clean out your garage, your car, or your kitchen cupboards and refrigerator?

If the clutter is behind closed doors perhaps you can forget about it, but if it is constantly making your acquaintance and it bothers you, it’s time to do something! If your heart begins palpitating as you read this list, stay calm. Read on. Help and hope are on the way!

With so many demands on our time these days, you may be wondering how you can ever begin to address accumulated clutter because such projects, whether big or small, take time and a loathing to tackle them. It really comes down to making this effort a priority. Otherwise, the chances are the clutter is going to continue being ignored.

Many people wait for spring-time to get to long awaited projects. We know it as “spring-cleaning.” In the spring plant life starts to burst with energy, and this can often ignite a spark in our own energy and motivate us to get our life cleaned up both externally and internally.

After having the house closed up for months with windows closed and the heat turned up, it feels good to get the windows open and let some air in. This sense of wanting to feel connected again to the outdoors is also true on an internal level in terms of our health and well-being. We want to feel lighter and get going. Yet, the truth is that we can clean up any part of our life at any time of the year we choose. I personally love to organize and spruce things up on a frequent basis. I really do enjoy it and the physical sense of feeling “lighter” and more balance.

If you feel like you don’t know where to start, I encourage you to make a list of all the tasks that you want to accomplish. Start with the item that creates the most irritation for you. If it is a complete room, pick one area that you will start first. For example, if you want to start with a bedroom, you could choose the closet first and then tackle the actual open space in the room. If the bedroom space itself bothers you more, start with that. Notice how your sleep improves due to the more tranquil energy you have created.

If your clutter has taken over, start with small steps instead of looking at the mountain top!

Unnecessary clutter adversely affecting our health is also found in our calendar commitments. Take a look at your commitments for the next week and see what you can omit to give yourself more personal time. Ask yourself if you really want to do something or need to do it.

Our minds can easily gather loads of clutter in the course of a day. Negative self-talk is the chatter of the mind that prevents us from better health, thoughts about how you are not worthy, or you’ll never get your life in order, or you’ll never .. (you fill in the blank). Then there is the monumental list of things you have to get done. Making a conscious decision to slow down, smell the roses, and turn off the negative mental chatter is going to create space and have a positive effect on your health.

A great way to start decluttering and creating space for tuning in to your body is to write down everything that you have on your mind. When our mind is going at 100 miles an hour we are doing a disservice to our health.

Once you have created space and are feeling the flow of energy, it is very likely that you will want to experience that feeling more and more and continue with other areas of your life. This could include food, relationships, finances, or exercise to name a few. It creates a positive chain reaction!

I like to say “act like you are moving at any moment.” When you do eventually move, you will have less to do during an already stressful event. If you need help or accountability, ask a friend to help or hire a professional service. Stay in the flow, keep purging and decluttering, and your health will also experience the benefits.

Why put off important things until tomorrow? Act now and improve your life and live a healthy holistic lifestyle.

Ready for a change?

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