Often, I find that my brain is unable to focus or process thoughts in a non-chaotic fashion. My mind buzzes as though it is being attacked by a swarm of bees. Despite several minutes of meditation, taking mini-breaks or power naps, my brain refuses to calm down. It is then that I resort to tidying up and organising spaces or my surroundings.
If I have to trace the inception of this habit, it goes way back to my school days, if my mother asked me to sit to study, then I had my priorities set: tidying the study table and the room I was sitting in. Not a toy or a piece of clothing could lie out of place (my mother ensured this and till date, tells me what a task it was to make me sit to study). My mother shouldn’t be this upset since I inherited this habit (also great excuse) from her and she, from her mother (my paati).
Nothing beats the way cleaning and organising things give me absolute peace and satisfaction. Whenever I find a chaotic situation in my head, I turn to the clutter in my surroundings. No matter how tired, if I need to think straight, then this is the way. As soon as I start tending to the clutter, my mind is at ease, my thoughts start becoming clearer and I am able to focus on what I’m thinking and doing. At that point, I can think of million other things with full clarity.
So I’m sharing a few things that helps me declutter both my mind and space.
Making a list
I initiate the whole cleaning business by jotting down what needs to be done around the house – be it tending to my 49 plants, arranging my wardrobe, dusting or sorting things in the fridge.
Getting creative
From time to time, I like to rearrange things around the house or my room, just to give the space a new look and feel. It can be as simple as adding flowers to a vase, changing the angle of the sofa or adding new photo frames, or more extensive, time-consuming ones, such as colour coding my books and deep cleaning.
Capturing the efforts
Appreciating what I have pulled off in the last two hours and capturing it for my delight is how I reward myself and, if in the mood, then I upload it on the gram, too.
While I’ve established how organising helps me, let me also share how it can sometimes pose a problem.
Spouse/family taking advantage
Both my spouse and family take advantage of my cleaning habit. Sometimes, my mother teases me by intentionally moving an item from its rightful place to see my reaction. And my spouse doesn’t make any effort, as he knows things will nonetheless get done.
Eats into my me-time
I overdo the cleaning so much that it eats into my personal time. The state of disarray in my space or house haunts me even on days I’m unwell or have to step out urgently. My partner is the perfect example of how one should spend their days off or weekends - catching up on new shows/movies, sleeping like he hasn’t slept the entire week and spamming me with memes.
My way or the highway
If the family or spouse does decide to help me, I still go behind their back (subtly) to either check what they have done or redo (not so subtly) the entire task.
I have slowly learnt and come to realise, though, that I can’t do everything. Everything can’t be a priority, so I need to learn to let go. Since decluttering the clutter gives me inner peace, I should do it, but not obsesses over it.