Time for Yourself

April 26, 2021/in Cluttergories/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Time goes by each day. How do you spend your time? Time management is important for our general health and happiness.

In STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter we note that, “All of us have 168 hours each week. How we fill those hours determines the quality of our lives.”

Are you busy? Probably. Life can be hectic for many of us. Temporal clutter often keeps us from taking time for ourselves.

Do you make time for yourself? If you don’t, your body will eventually protest.

Here are a few resources that may help:

The picture I chose for this blog post is a digital clock with a slightly off-kilter display. A useful metaphor for how we spend our time each day. That is, we can be off-kilter if we don’t take time for ourselves.

A quotation from Diane von Furstenberg reinforces this point well,

“It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.”

Take time for yourself today!

Bonus quotations to further help you remember to take time for yourself.

Your Choice – Declutter Your Mind or Your Relationship

April 19, 2021/in Cluttergories/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Have you been in a relationship where someone you cared about didn’t share what was bothering them? They held their thoughts inside.

I spent over 40 years in a thought-hoarding relationship.

It didn’t end well.

When we allow the clutter of thoughts and emotions to build for too long, we become toxic.

At some point, we have to release the pressure.

Scotland-based author, Don Johnson writes in his bio that he’s lived in meditative introspection as a monk and survived “the shark-infested waters of corporate America.” He offers a guide to saying aloud those things we have difficulty saying.

Why do we hold onto these thoughts when they can be so damaging over time?

Johnson’s view is that we fear we’ll be rejected or upset the other person.

Consider the long-term effects of toxicity.

Do you risk offending someone you care about? Or do you risk burning them after pummeling them with your pressure-cooker of problems?

I believe in dealing with issues as they come along. Bite-sized pieces are more palatable and digestible than swallowing months and even years of toxic thought-vomit.

Few relationships survive the drama that punctuates periods of pseudo-peace.

Explosive behaviors at their worst, result in violence and even fatalities. At the very least, they prove fatal to the life of the relationship.

Johnson offers four tips. Two are to be aware of and then detoxify our “left-hand column”—those thoughts and feelings we don’t express. The next is to having a learning mindset. Be open to other ways of thinking and seeing the world. Finally, he suggests we have a “kitchen conversation” (instead of a dining room conversation). This distinction alone is worth the time it will take to read this short article.

It’s time to face one another and have the difficult discussions. What do you have to lose?

ICYMI: BELIEFS – We Hold the Power to Change our Lives

Kids, Cats, and Clutter

April 12, 2021/1 Comment/in De-Clutter/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Is your living space in chaos or is it clean?

Maybe both depending on what area of the house you are talking about! Despite our best efforts, clutter often appears like magic. Kids and cats (or other pets) often contribute to clutter chaos.

We recently emptied out a closet containing assorted storage bins. Just because something is stored away neatly doesn’t mean it isn’t clutter.

Bin there done that.

In this case, the bins were full of old baby clothes and other assorted keepsakes from my daughters. Now that we have a granddaughter, time to check on those clothes! Styles change of course, but jeans are always useful.

Cats are like kids in that they have toys and other items that must be stored when not in use. If you have multiple cats, then you probably have multiple cat boxes to rotate as you replace them to clean out the used cat litter. Yet another item to store until needed.

Clearing the clutter to keep chaos at bay can be a never-ending process. Life is full of adventure with kids and cats (or other animals). Enjoy the moment. Some days the clutter gets ahead and that’s ok on occasion. Tomorrow you’ll have another opportunity to clean away the clutter.

Be at peace with your day if kids, cats, and clutter have their way.

Decluttering a Mountain in My Mind

April 5, 2021/in De-Clutter/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

What has felt like a mountain of clutter in my mind crumbled into a manageable molehill after I stopped procrastinating.

I have a banker’s box filled with miscellaneous paperwork. When I want to read something, I place it in this box. Unfortunately, this practice resulted in a growing collection of assorted papers and magazines for over a decade. While I’ve reviewed and tossed or shredded papers in this box, they reproduce.

I took some time on Easter Sunday, to go through this box after being inspired by memories of a “recovering procrastinator.” I searched online to see what she was up to. We hadn’t been in touch in a few years while I was going through a divorce. Rita Emmett had a marvelous sense of humor as she spoke and wrote about procrastinating. Sadly, she died almost two years ago.

During one of our last calls, Rita and I talked about how a molehill of tasks grows into a mountain, simply because we keep putting it off.

This box is in my office next to the file cabinet. Seeing it, reminds me daily to continue making progress. While the mountain seemed too high; once I started climbing, it began to crumble. My “treasured keepsakes” no longer held the importance I once ascribed to them.

Today, I have different needs and interests.

Paperwork is the most time-consuming. Some people will say, “I don’t even want to see it. Toss it.” Others will need to go through it once more. I am one of the others. It’s a good thing, because I found financial records that need to be shredded.

I also found a little surprise—my notes from a wine-tasting trip from about 20 years ago. Since I’m planning a trip to the same area next month, these detailed notes were a helpful reminder of my experiences.

While the contents in the box are more loosely spaced and easier to look through, I keep adding files and other paperwork. Still, I’m a lot further along thanks to inspiring memories of Rita.

Archive for month: April, 2021