The Joy of Decluttering
Friends!
Again, shoutout to all of you who engaged on the topic of binary bias from last week. It was clear that many of you agree that we would all be better off if we somehow resisted the tendency of framing every choice in life as a choice between (only) two very divergent and opposing options.
This week, I am turning to something perhaps seemingly different but when reflecting on it not so much. Decluttering our lives.
The longer I live, the more I am attracted to simplicity. To clean living. To the notion that less is more. When I was young, I was fascinated by things. As I grow older, I am more attracted to people and ideas. Things are like happiness. People and ideas are more like joy. They are deeper, more meaningful, and are the kind of gifts that keep giving.
My personal taste has also been shaped by my roots and family traditions, a product of my upbringing in Scandinavia where light, natural materials, and a form of modesty all create beautiful spaces. I can't put my finger on why I feel more at ease and more true to myself, but I guess the aesthetic shaped me. So maybe it isn't that difficult to understand, after all.
Image from ModernDane
Even so, I think most of us feel better and more at ease when our surroundings are neat and orderly. Though many people are unable to keep things that way, there’s a soothing quality to a well-organized space. When all of your belongings have a home, there’s an imaginary sense of control. After a dinner party, when the last dish is dried and put away and the final crumbs are wiped off the table – there’s a sigh of relief. All is right in the world once again.
But let's go a bit deeper on clutter.
We live in a world with more information coming our way than ever before in human history. Our explosion in computer processing power has far outpaced our own human ability to keep up with all this information. It's a little bit akin to you trying to use today's software packages with your first computer. It would be sluggish at best and would crash often!
One way of dealing with information overflow is to physically declutter your life. Being organized with your things, at least for me, helps create more space and feelings of maneuverability, and therefore helps me feel more in control of all the incoming traffic.
When cooking, we are taught mise-en-place. Preparing your recipes before you start makes it easier to ensure the right quantities are sequenced the right way while also ensuring you don't forget key ingredients. But more importantly, it also makes cooking more enjoyable. It reduces stress.
Amidst the chaos of our daily world, humans often seek out control as a source of comfort. There seems to be a trend in the last few years towards organizing in a broad sense. I think this is driven by a desire to improve your sense of agency and relates to your locus of control. It’s as if by having more order in here, you’re more prepared for the chaos out there.
I see this as a reaction to the anxiety of our times. How we create our spaces is deeply psychological – design is not all aesthetics. It’s emotional. And within the unpredictability of our world, it helps bring peace and stability to an otherwise turbulent surrounding. The growth and popularity of people like Marie Kondo, the Home Edit, and stores like The Container Store and IKEA all point to this fact. I have listed a few below if you want to explore them more.
Home improvement had a huge boom this past year. Of course, we were spending a tremendous amount of time in our homes during the pandemic, so it’s natural that people had the time and energy to work on projects they had been putting off. But there’s something more instinctive and psychological about it, as well. People were busying themselves making their home spaces feel safer and more predictable while everything outside was incredibly uncertain and unpredictable.
In the Swedish marines, we were taught to make our beds perfectly every morning. Drilled on it, in fact. I think making our bed is a great example of the value of daily routines. If you start your day by making your bed, you are ahead of the game. You accomplished a task. And you feel a little bit better. And then, after whatever day you have had, you go to bed in a perfectly made bed. Then you start over.
You can apply similar benefits to the many little habits in life. Your toiletries, your desk drawers, your closet, your car. By organizing what you can control, you paradoxically increase your ability to handle all the things coming your way that you can't control.
Here are a few resources I really appreciate on the topic:
Marie Kondo is a powerhouse
The Home Edit is a fun show I like
The Instagram feed of Gocleanco is awesome if you like ideas for how to get things really clean
These 17 reasons for why less is more I found to be worth reading (don't agree with all things written here, but directionally it's a good reminder that less of one thing often means more of something else (often more valuable)).
Hope you will have a terrific week, and that you will find a few things that you can simplify in your own life. If you do, and you like what you experienced, please share!
