I realised last year that I had a lot of clutter in my life. Not the bits-and-bobs kind of clutter or stuff hiding in the spare closet that is collecting dust and not much else, I am talking about life. You may be wondering how life could ever be cluttered? I asked myself this same question, exactly that. And while I thought about it, wondered and contemplated, I realised that building up clutter is actually easier than not.
I got to a stage where I felt drained by meeting everyday expectations, routines and demands. I was losing energy and momentum. The busyness just kept on increasing while I just kept on turning the wheels trying to keep up. And I realised that I was actually trying to keep up with the silliest of things. I was trying to please everyone. I was trying to make other people happy before my family and myself. I was trying to do everything perfectly while not accepting that mistakes happen. I was wasting too much time keeping up with everyone else’s ‘news feed’ while not noticing my own. The clutter was there.
And so I began to simplify.
One day a week I turn off my phone. No contact. No social media interactions. No Facebook. No interactions. It is just my family and I. The silence is heavenly.
I began to delete people off my Facebook account as I asked myself, “did I really need to see all their latest news, happenings and food pictures from people that are not even my friends?” No, not really.
The simpleness is creeping back in, and the clutter is leaving. There is too much time wasted on trying to ‘keep up with the kardashians’, as they say, and not enough time focusing on what is around you.
I am simplifying my life. Are you?
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This article first appeared in 3000Melbourne Magazine
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