Mary McNeil

Why Decluttering Gives You Such An Energy Boost

Clutter in all its many forms is a serial energy drainer. So if you want to reclaim some of your vitality and energy, how about starting with a spot of decluttering?

One of the really important things to understand about clutter is that wherever and however you encounter it in your life and your environment, it is a manifestation of procrastination. If you think about it... all clutter exists either because you've deferred a decision about something, or because you've made the decision what to do about it, but not taken the action.

So, for example, if you have a pile of magazines cluttering your floor, you will either be trying to ignore it in the vain hope that it will magically disappear under its own steam and you won't have to decide what to do about it. Or you will have already decided what you want (or ought) to do with the magazines, but be postponing the action phase of the operation. Either way that pile of magazines sits there on your floor, cluttering up your space, draining your energy and making you feel bad for not having done anything about it yet.

I'm sure you're aware of the detrimental effect procrastination has on your sense of wellbeing. This effect is mainly due to the fact that procrastination drains you of purposeful energy. Instead of taking purposeful decisions and actions, you end up fretting over all the things you haven't done. You throw away loads of your energy in the process of justifying why you're postponing them until another day. And at the same time you feel bad about your inactivity and indecisiveness. What a marvellous way to waste your personal energy!

This is one of the reasons why decluttering will give an instant boost to your energy levels once you engage with it. As with all procrastination related tasks, the challenge is in the getting started. But if you can kick start yourself into even one small piece of decluttering activity, then be aware of the energy it generates, you can use that energy to propel you into the next decluttering step. And the next. Until you're positively buzzing with the energized sense of liberation that decluttering can bring.

The other important thing to understand about clutter is that it is a particularly low form of energy in itself.

How does it make you feel when you walk into someone else's space that's stuffed full of useless junk. Often the high level of clutter means that it's difficult to clean and full of dirt and dust too. Now I don't know about you, but that just makes my spirits plummet. My energy levels sink and I can't wait to get out again.

Compare that to how it feels to walk into a light, spacious, airy room. The space gives a sense of possibility and lightness. It positively encourages mental clarity, open expression and general expansiveness.

The low, dark, draining nature of clutter energy means that you don't have to be around it for long before it has a negative effect on you. Although I work with people on their clutter issues, I have chosen, for precisely this reason, not to enter physically into their cluttered spaces. The prospect of a working life spent amongst clutter is neither an attractive nor a healthy one. I am far more able to support my coaching clients by staying out of their clutter and maintaining my positive energy levels.

So there are two big ways in which decluttering increases your energy levels: 1. It cuts your procrastination guilt and clears your mental energy drain 2. It clears the physical energy drains from your environment

I'd actually go as far as to claim that anything that drains your energy could be described as a form of clutter in your life. So if an energized, purposeful life is something you'd like to work towards, why not start with a spot of decluttering today?

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