Does Clutter Create Anxiety, or Does Anxiety Create Clutter?

Does your stuff own you? Does mental anguish rule your brain?

Many people acknowledge a certain level of physical clutter from time to time in their environment. It could be a small mess, such as a cluttered desk or a collection of miscellaneous debris on a counter top or something much more unwieldy. Clutter may take up residence in your home in an over-stuffed attic or a garage that houses everything except a car. At its extreme, clutter may manifest itself as an entire house filled with so much stuff that the only logical description of the residents in that house is “hoarders.” However the term clutter may define your world, it’s a safe bet to say that most people living in the twenty-first century have more possessions than they can easily organize at all times. Many people peacefully coexist with the clutter that surrounds them without anxiety clouding their mind. To them, I raise my glass and say “Congrats!”

I, on the other hand, am clutter-averse. I can’t even stand to see a chair around the table that hasn’t been pushed in after the person sitting there has left the room. My closets are mostly organized. My desk is clean. My pantry shelves are easy to navigate. I am more than a little OCD about the organization of my stuff. At least, I’m obsessive about the organization of my physical stuff. And that is where things start to get a little crazy.

There’s More to Clutter Than Just the Stuff You Stack in the Closet In truth, overwhelming clutter is about more than just the objects you can hold in your hand (and usually put down someplace where they don’t belong). Clutter can also come in the form of mental, emotional or digital sources. Too much to do, too little time. Battling out conflicting relationships — over and over again. The never ending barrage of incoming/outgoing data to contend with. All of these things put our brains into overload and create clutter anxiety in our minds. Just as physical clutter blocks our pathway to the door, mental clutter produces a level of anxiety that can block our brains pathway to accomplishing our goals. Not to mention what mental clutter can do to your peace of mind. You may be able to pull together your resources and eliminate the physical clutter in your world. Tackling the mental clutter that results from living in a super fast paced world may take a little more finesse. It’s easier to stop the flow of physical objects into your life than it is to stop the influx of mental stimulation that bombards you from every angle, nearly continuously.

Time Management is a True Art I have too much to do each day. You, I’m sure, have too much to do each day. Our task list may be very different, but it has one thing in common — we all have twenty four hours in each day to accomplish whatever seems most important to us. Sometimes we get to set the priorities — sometimes the priorities tell us who’s boss. I’m a big fan of lists and calendars. They have a definite place in the structure of my world. They work in that they provide a visible accounting of what needs to be done. They don’t work so well in that they do nothing to actively participate in the accomplishment of any task. At least when I can see what’s bearing down on me, I can curb my anxiety level down to a realistic level. An organized physical list eliminates the jumble of mental clutter that tends to freak me out.

People, and Their Unique Personalities, are a Clutter Minefield in Life We all love who we love. That can be family, friends, significant others and a host of others we may choose to include in our inner circle. And those are the only ones we should include in the sacred inner-sphere of our existence — those we include by CHOICE. A big clutter bomb in our brains comes directly from, what I like to call, toxic shock people. These are the people who bring drama, chaos and unrest to our world. To whatever extent is possible, you, me and the guy down the street have to figure out a way to remove these toxic people and the anxiety producing clutter they bring with them from our daily lives. At the very least, their time and influence must be strictly regulated. In order to do this, we must learn to see them for what they are and find some tolerable common ground. Accept the fact that you may not be able to rid your life of every toxic element, but you can work on controlling your reactions to their misdirected interference.

Techno-Clutter is Possibly the Biggest Threat In this brave new world of the twenty-first century, the biggest influx of clutter — both mental and physical — comes, no doubt, from our gadgets. Many of us have a collection of cellphones, tablets, laptops, desk top computers, monitors, music and video devices, cameras, smart speakers, and god knows what else. Every one of them has its own beep, ping, alarm and ring to alert us to incoming clutter. Something else that must be dealt with, oftentimes immediately, is on its way to our brains before we’ve sorted through the clutter that’s already in there. High anxiety comes from the never ending information we are processing. Technology has created a world where life goes on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It’s easy to try and state the importance of trying to limit your exposure to these devices to certain blocks of pre-determined time. Doing that is another matter entirely. The problem is, while you are not paying attention to your devices, your devices are still gathering incoming information for you to deal with eventually. Technology offers no real timeouts- only temporary delays.

Is your stuff (mental and physical) taking over your life with never ending clutter? Are you struggling with negative emotions and toxic relationships that take every ounce of enthusiasm from your life? Is your relationship with your devices more impacting on your life than your face to face relationships with real live human beings? You will never find a permanent cure for the clutter in your life. All you can do is accept it for what it is and try to categorize it accordingly. Each day is a new day for you and a renewed day for your clutter. If you can recognize the signs of incoming chaos before it creates anxious rack and ruin in your brain, you may eventually become the master/mistress of your stuff — but you will never eliminate it.

RECENT STORIES