The other weekend I was in a mood. An irritated state. I chalked it up to pregnancy hormones, because I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so prickly. It was a Sunday afternoon and Quinn was napping and Ian had holed up in his office after I snapped at him about balling up the dish towel and leaving it on the counter (it NEVER dries like that…you really have to go the extra step and hang it back on the oven handle!). Not knowing what else to do with myself, I decided to pick up toys and clean some of the house—get my blood flowing, do something productive. Ya know?
Well, cleaning up was THE ANSWER. I felt so much better after. It was so simple. Sometimes you just have to take charge and pick shit up and get things out of your way (literally and figuratively). I had let the toys pile up for a little too long. I used to clean them up every night. I couldn’t sit on the couch watching Shameless surrounded by Disney On Ice princesses, fake iPhones, and doll house patio furniture. I cut back to every few nights once I hit the halfway mark in my pregnancy because you know, bending over. Well, didn’t that catch up to me.
It might sound ridiculous, but your living space and your stuff can affect your mood in a major way. Clutter, or too much stuff even, can contribute to anxiety and depression. There is research to support this. Mess causes stress! To all the toddler parents out there, you’re even more susceptible to the stress of a mess, as you have minimal control over the creation of the mess, less time to clean up the mess, and only seconds to minutes from one mess to the next.
So, weed stuff out. Donate. Sell. Rotate toys in and out or swap with friends for a few months (shoutout to my friend Sarah, who came up with the term “active storage” for doing this with toys…love that). Simplify. With the internet, there are endless ways to off-load stuff or trade stuff if you’ve got the guts for it. There is something so appealing about traveling through life lightly. Most material possessions (including apps on your phone) don’t make you happier, they weigh you down. The question to ask yourself is, “Does this thing add value to my life?” No? Haven’t used it or worn it in months? Pass it on! Less is more. Paring down your things is a form of meditation, or living in the now. We live in a world of excess; we try to hold on to the past by holding on to things, and we try to plan for the future by consuming things that are advertised to us constantly. Don’t get caught up in it. The less material possessions you have, the more space you have for other aspects of life—relationships, experiences, creativity, the need to explore community, etc.
All of this = HEALTH.
HELPFUL TOOLS:
www.theminimalists.com
The Minimalists PodCast
Documentary on Netflix called “Minimalism,” which will make you feel better just watching it!
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