We are all guilty of holding on to things that we treasure; keepsakes, books, art and our children’s first drawings to name a few. Over time, these things accumulate and it can be a challenge to get rid of them.
There are people who find it easy to get rid of things that they no longer need and there are people who can not bear to part with even a piece of paper where they scribbled information which they will never need to use again.
There are different types of clutter, physical, emotional or mental, social, and digital clutter.
Physical clutter
This is the most common and visible form of what people can identify as clutter. Its the stuff that can be packed away if there is space; books can be placed on a shelf, shoes on a rack, clothes can be packed in drawers if folded or hung up in a wardrobe and toys can be put in a box.
This clutter weighs us down and causes us to be antisocial because we do not want people to come into our house and see the mess, also it becomes difficult to leave the house because one feels guilty for enjoying other things instead of tidying up but still they never get round to doing it.
It is very draining to be in such an environment as the atmosphere starts to feel very heavy and most times the person will feel fatigued before they even start, so its left for another day.
Physical clutter affects children in a negative way; children that live in messy houses are prone to health conditions due to leaving in an unhygienic place. They can’t have their friends over to play at short notice, and it also affects their attention span as their living and playing space is restricted because of all the clutter around them.
Have you ever been to someones house and there was nowhere to sit that they needed to start moving things off the settee just to make room? Or tried to help someone clean up and almost fallen out because you insisted they throw away certain things that have been in a particular place for years and never been used?
This constant holding on to possessions is what causes people to become hoarders. Not all hoarders live in squalor and smelly houses with dead animals and bad sanitation like we see on TV programmes.
Some people hold on to so much stuff because they fear that they may need it someday. The person may keep the items for reasons that are not obvious to other people, such as for sentimental reasons.
Some people may buy clothes especially in sales and not wear them but keep them in case they need them at some other time. They may have lots of dresses, bags and shoes that they do not have any space for them and end up moving them from place to place. They also tend to buy more clothes if they are going somewhere because they have so many things and they don’t know where to begin looking.
Emotional or Mental Clutter
Emotional or mental clutter is the clutter that we can not see. It is the thoughts that hold us back and make life hard and complicated. This may be tied to feelings of guilt over something we wanted to do but didn’t get round to doing it, regret over an unfinished course, unmet deadlines, unreached goals or people we wanted to see but couldn’t make it.
The fear of pursuing your dreams or worrying about what people will say when you do is also a form of mental clutter. It is difficult to reach your true potential when you go through those type of emotions. People end up being stuck in a rut and not being able to pursue their careers or make positive changes in their lives.
When you have mental clutter, it is difficult to experience clarity, peace and love. It occupies your thoughts and and gradually makes you believe that the negative thoughts in your mind are real. This causes insecurities and holds you back from living life to your full potential.
Social Clutter
Sometimes we are in relationships that no longer add to our lives but drain us instead. We stay with the same groups of people even though we have grown apart, stick to the same routines that we get no enjoyment out of because it is the norm or trend just to fit in. Sometimes we give so much more of ourselves than we can, getting nothing in return or being mistreated and sometimes we commit ourselves to events that we do not have any desire to be in the first place because of fear.
It is hard but useful to distance yourself from negative talk and people that bring you down. Toxic relationships end up making you insecure and causing you to limit yourself from getting good opportunities.
Digital Clutter
In this age of digitalisation, our mobile phones, iPads and computers have apps that we download and we think are good idea to have but never get round to using. We bookmark things that we never go back to read or delete on our computers and that creates a lot of clutter.
Some people do not check their emails or filter junk post and they get overwhelmed when they go into their emails. We take hundreds of pictures on our phones but do not delete them or move them to a memory stick and we end up scrolling through thousands of pictures while looking for just one suitable one.
It causes anxiety to realise that you have months worth of mail and you have missed payments or important correspondence because of not clearing your digital clutter.
There are many reasons that lead to people living cluttered lives. Our past events, childhood experiences, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs and traumatic events all play a part in what we do in our lives.
Some people may have suffered an illness where they find it difficult to tidy up their things or are lonely and just feel emotionally attached to certain objects as a way of comfort. After a bereavement certain stuff is kept because of its sentimental value and the feeling that if they throw away the things, they are throwing away all their memories of their loved one.
Sometimes the behaviour is adopted from parents that hoard things but most times it is the opposite, whereby if a parent was compulsive about cleanliness, a child may rebel later in life because they finally have no one to tell them what to do.
Some people were just not taught or learned the skills of maintaining a tidy environment and others struggle with depression or anxiety that causes them to lose interest in day to day activities.
There are instances where the clutter is manageable and someones surroundings can be cleared but it can also get to a point where the problem is bigger than lack of time and a person is not prepared to accept help clearing up because they are afraid that the helper may throw away their stuff.
It becomes a fire and trip hazard when someone has collected too much stuff, especially the elderly but it is important to be patient and understanding because there may be a lot of reasons why that person is behaving in that way and not rush in to throw away their stuff and cause more harm than good.
It is pointless to clear out someone’s house on their behalf because if they do not get rid of their possessions themselves they will not have participated in the decluttering so will learn nothing from it. They have to be ready and willing to make the change and they should not be encouraged to put things in storage either because they will continue accumulating things and end up being worse off.
