When most people think of clutter, they think of the clutter that you’ll find in the average household. The wardrobe that has disorganised drawers. The bedside table drawer that is a mess with various medicines, cables and goodness knows what else. The bathroom cabinet that has that bottle of Dettol that you swear you never bought, but has been in there for as long as you remember. And, of course, that one ‘junk drawer’ that seems like an endless repository of the most random items.
However, there’s a different type of clutter, one that can get bogged down and prevent you from living your best and most productive life.
And that is the clutter that collects within your own mind.
I, myself, suffer from this. As an anxiety sufferer, it seems there’s no end to the thoughts that come through my mind on a daily basis, with a vast majority causing further stress and anxieties despite them either being nonsensical, practically impossible, or just plain silly. For example, when I was a teenager, we watched the movie ‘Outbreak’ for a school assignment. For those who don’t know, this movie is about an Ebola outbreak that all but spreads across the globe, killing many. When we watched it, it was way back in 2006 (yes, I am getting old!) and long before the outbreak happened in 2014. At that time, the cases had only occured in some parts of Africa. The chance of it causing a significant outbreak in a smallish town in Queensland, Australia, was almost nil.
And yet, for about three weeks afterwards, I had nightmares of just that happening. I’d wake up in a sweat. Every day, every time I heard someone cough, I imagined that they were sick with Ebola and all that comes with that disease. To put it simply, it cluttered my mind to the extent that I was a walking, talking ball of stress that hadn’t had a proper nights sleep in weeks. It did wonders for my academic performance (not!). That was a mental clutter that I needed to clean out.
Basically, a cluttered mind comes from when you feel overloaded and overwhelmed with anxieties about the future, past decisions and tasks that you need to accomplish. It can cause mental fatigue, physical fatigue, lack of sleep, panic attacks, poor concentration, forgetfulness and restlessness; those that have a cluttered mind will find it impossible to relax because there’s just too much going on! When I try to explain what it feels like to me, I often equate it to having done an extensive workout and then guzzling three double espressos in a row. Your body is physically exhausted but your mind is buzzing.
Often times, this mental clutter can also manifest in one’s surroundings. Think of it this way: when you’ve got a to-do list that has thirty items on it, you feel overwhelmed and daunted, so what do you do? You shut down, and none of them get done. When the clutter takes over your mind, it becomes all you focus on and everything else feels daunting so nothing else gets done, making your living space increasingly messy and chaotic.
So, what can be done to reduce mental clutter?
There’s a plethora of theories out there about calming the mind and body. Not all will work for everyone. Some find journalling most beneficial as it allows them to write out what is on their mind, thus allowing them to ‘move on’ from whatever it is that is plaguing them. Others opt to go out and socialise, finding that being around others will help to calm the mind.
Some find solace in the simple things, such as having a cup of tea, letting the soothing, warm liquid fill them up. Talking about something that is particurarly bothering oneself is a good way to get another perspective and help put the clutter behind you. I know someone who simply ‘allows’ themselves to feel whatever it is they’re thinking, what they’re worried about – this is something that, honestly, doesn’t make a great deal of sense for me as I just can’t imagine how it would work.
What works for one won’t work for another, but there are three things that I think everyone should do when they experience mind clutter.
- Exercise. This is a tried and true method for anyone who experiences issues with mental health, as exercise will release endorphins and dopamine, and will increase serotonin levels. That, in turn, will reduce cortisol levels and inflammation, increasing blood flow to the brain and improving cognitive function. Additionally, exercise is a great distraction and allows you to get out of the space that you’d otherwise sit in and ruminate.
- Breathing. Now, I’m not great at this myself. Anyone who knows my personally knows I’ve had a long journey with psychology, and this is one of the newer techniques I’ve been learning with my physiologist alongside DBT. In these breathing exercises, you focus entirely on something you can hear, feel, see or smell. For example, you close your eyes and breathe in, holding your breath for five seconds, and then breathe out. As you do so, you focus entirely on what you hear and nothing else. The sound of a car driving past. The sound of the fan in the background. The whirr of your computer’s hard drive. When you slowly open your eyes, you feel calmer and more grounded.
- Grounding. To ground yourself is simple: you simply go outside to touch the ground, whether that be dirt, grass or sand. This is something I also do quite often, even in the middle of winter. This connects you to the earth, allowing you to feel the earth under your feet, and is said to improve blood flow, release toxins and relaxes the nervous system. It can also reduce anxiety as, like exercise, it also gets you out of the space and therefore, your headspace.
Decluttering the mind isn’t easy and it can take time to do it. Especially if you’re in that space where you’re so overwhelmed you don’t know what to do. It can be hard to get up and go, to get the motivation. Sometimes it takes time, sometimes you have to actively make a choice. The goal is, however, that it becomes a habit and once you start to find yourself ruminating or having more clutter in your mind than necessary, you automatically take the steps needed to clear that clutter out.
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