A Mundane Post About Decluttering: It’s a very psychological activity

Two weeks ago, I mentioned in passing how I went decluttering in a cloud of mental haze. Well, this post is about how that very helpful decluttering session went.

Is this blog going to become more like diarrhea diary entries from now on? I don’t know. There’re several environmental-related ideas I’ve been meaning to write about but haven’t gotten around to doing it.

I shall, though!

Hopefully, after getting silly little posts out of the way, the mechanism of writing can run smoothly again. You know, like getting the gum out of my system. (Yes I watched WandaVision.)

So this post is retrospective. I felt stuck, just weeks ago. (I feel less stuck now, but I’m not out of the woods yet.)

Why do I feel stuck? Hmm… Why does anyone feel stuck? We’re not frigging trees or pets. But the feeling of stuckness is definitely not unique to me.

In my case, it’s the bleakness of my future looming over me that’s triggering that feeling. Even with few commitments, I struggled to stay on top of things.

I was sluggish.

I fail to appreciate the fact that things change, and even though the results of my actions aren’t up to me, I can still put in relevant actions.

So I spent some time decluttering as I usually do when I’m all fogged up or when I feel down, gathering things and leaving them in a box. Upon hearing that my mom-in-law arranged a donation pick-up, I stepped up the decluttering.

Observations from my latest decluttering session

I say I’m always decluttering, and I’m not kidding. To me, it’s a form of escape, I get into a zone, almost. Then I weed out what I’m hogging and not using.

During this decluttering session, I observed some things

• an obsession for decluttering shares similarities with hoarding: we’re both obsessed with things and it’s often linked to psychological issues
• decluttering is not motivated by generosity, but self-love. It can be such a selfish activity, because all you’re thinking about is you, your space, and your attention. Although an underlying thought is often “someone else can use this”, the primary motivation is self-care: I want less distraction, more space, more focus.
• I really, really love my things. I love my things as much as the girls who proudly display their branded bags on shelves. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to keep looking at them! The only difference is, I don’t mind parting with them.
• Chasing after minimalism and chasing materials are two ends of one spectrum. The motivation for both chases seems to be happiness. Alas, happiness won’t be found in minimalism or materialism.

Happiness and minimalism

Why do I go on and on about minimalism if it wouldn’t bring about happiness?

Well, minimizing can give you a feeling of lightness, which can make you happy for a bit, but it’s not permanent. However, minimalism is a valuable tool for you to shed the dead weights distracting you from happiness.

In this post about the source of happiness, I wrote that as we grew up, we externalize our happiness on objects and experiences, not knowing we are the sources of our happiness.

Minimalism is a very valuable tool that helps us to see that we’re indeed the source of our happiness.

By taking objects we don’t need away from our lives, we take away distractions, we take away the idea that “I need stuff to be happy”.

Eventually, we’re left with physical space and breathing room, and the habit of decluttering can creep into our mental spaces.

There in our minds, we can continue the decluttering. This may well be the most important part of minimalism:

• identifying thoughts and habits that no longer work for us and
• choosing thoughts and habits that align with our values.

I think of this introspection as mental reorganization.

So often, we underestimate the pain we experience when our lives don’t align with our values. Also, we neglect the fact that much of our suffering originates from our thoughts.

For some reason, the latest decluttering session drove that point home. I guess part of me is just so sick of being in mental anguish despite me having a comfortable and secure life.

It was time to do the hardest decluttering of all – the decluttering of my thoughts. Coincidentally, I wrote that post before I wrote this one. Read it here!

So how did my decluttering go?

It went swimmingly! You may not want to read this part since it’s just about what I got rid of.

This time, I came up with over 40 items headed for donation, recycling, or trash.

That’s more than I’ve decluttered in a while. Three-quarters of them were donations, while the rest get recycled or trashed.

In the process, I’ve let go of crafts I wanted to learn but didn’t continue (felting tools and knitting needles), a book about designing letters. I let go of pretty things I simply didn’t need or wouldn’t get around using (a beautiful journal and some ornaments).

One of the things was a wifi adaptor I’d purchased for my old laptop because of connectivity issues. I kept the adaptor despite the fact that my previous laptop died and I’m now using a new secondhand laptop. Thanks to the just-in-case mindset. I figured if I kept it any longer it’d become obsolete. So I donated it.

The hardest things to get rid of turned out to be shoes. I had a pair of Timberland shoes that I bought at a sale several years ago. It’s a loud purple – think Barney the dinosaur shade. I was always self-conscious wearing it. It’s also a pain to put on. I detested the idea of such a good pair of shoes wasting away in my closet, so I got a pair of black Teva waterproof booties from an eBay seller to replace this.

The Teva boots allowed me to give away two pairs of shoes I had. I don’t encourage buying something new to get rid of something you already have, since what you already have will always be the most eco-friendly option. In this case, I was wasting a stellar pair of Timberland boots, so I found a replacement.

I also donated a pair of mittens and a hat that I crocheted. I loved them, but since I received new ones for Christmas, I decided I’ll give them away, and hopefully, they can provide some warmth for someone.

Turning my extra goods into a care package

I didn’t send the Timberland boots along on the donation truck. I picked out some nicer items with the intention to send them to an organization that provides assistance to a reservation. Let’s face it, my crocheted hat and mitten will just get overlooked in a thrift store!

As I mentioned earlier, minimalism can be such a self-centered activity. So I tried to take myself out of the equation as much as I can, and think about people who lack these items.

There’s nothing generous about this action, I’m just trying to make my day by making someone else’s.

But damn, it does feel good!

See, another benefit of minimalism!

The joys of minimalism

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I love minimalism.

The minimalist lifestyle is like a private teacher. Though the lifestyle itself doesn’t teach anything, the intentionality of it seeps into every aspect of my life and allow me to glean lessons from life itself.

Pretty awesome.

I went from becoming more aware of my relationship with things; to my things’ relationship with the environment; to the realization that I don’t need most of the things marketers tell me I need, and that I should be more of a giver than a taker.

Now, it’s making me declutter the contents of my mind, much of which harm me – I have a rather critical internal monologue.

Time to let that go too.