Have you ever organized a spot in your home, getting the perfect bins and beautiful organizers and tastefully placing items in their spots? Only to find that this well-intended area eventually is overtaken again, but possibly even worse so because the organization allows more items to accumulate? Your overabundance of stuff is just more hidden and well organized?
Decluttering can be like this but with less physical proof of what has happened — that’s why the psychology of decluttering is even more important to digest and truly understand.
Decluttering can be a very worthwhile and essential undertaking. There are many benefits to the process, and perhaps this is why you are taking it on. On its own, however, decluttering may be a pointless task without personal evaluation and understanding of the “whys” behind what we do and where we stand with our possessions. Without understanding more about our habits, we may undo any progress without realizing it.
Continue reading to discover why ‘just’ decluttering won’t work and how personal insight and introspection can genuinely lead to change.
‘Just’ Decluttering Does Not Require Introspection
Ridding yourself of stuff you haven’t used in the last year or donating an item of clothing for each new piece you brought into the house are short term fixes. If you do something, as a rule, you may find it easy to get rid of but not learn anything from purging it.
For decluttering methods to become a natural habit, one must evaluate how things have come to be this way. What are the decisions you’ve made about these possessions? Consider statements the items you have accumulated make about your values, passions, and desires.
Considering the reasons why we have items will help us understand ourselves, learn from it, and avoid accumulation in the long run.
‘Just’ Decluttering Will Not Help You Understand Your Attachment
Thinking a bit deeper, one must consider personal motivations for the attachment to the stuff you own. For example, have you held onto things because of the fear of doing without it?
More introspection may lead to the understanding that one may be holding onto habits from living your childhood in poverty. Understand and change your thinking realize that it’s okay now to let go. Realize you’re in a different place where you are in control of your circumstances, and you have choices you can make. Also, change your thinking to the fact that you may be helping others in need!
‘Just’ Decluttering Doesn’t Benefit Others
Decluttering without learning what caused it does not help others who could benefit from your overstock. Taking steps to get rid of some things and tidy up, without understanding your reasons for doing so, rarely leads to the kinds of results that could come from purposeful action. Sometimes people get stuck on the thought of the fact that if they give something away, someone else may profit from it. Why does this matter that much when one can indeed be happy that by letting the item go? The item may be a much more useful item than just sitting in your storage area. Plus, how much would one pay for extra space in their home without having to ‘upsize’ their dwelling and move to gain it? Understanding what you desire to learn from this purge, you can significantly pare down without regard to who benefits, you can be delighted to help someone.
‘Just’ Decluttering has no Impact on your Debt
One may think decluttering would help you raise cash by selling unwanted and no longer needed items. Selling items without considering how you got to the point you are in your accumulation is problematic because one doesn’t necessarily learn why and how they got there. You’re practically guaranteed to buy more things replace the items you’ve sold. Learn the whys you have what you have so that you are less inclined to grow your collection of belongings.
‘Just’ Decluttering Rarely Leads to Lifestyle Changes
Mindlessly decluttering is temporary. Your clean and organized atmosphere is merely a facade that isn’t destined to last. If you want to transform your life by implementing healthy changes and making positive strides, you first must do the work of introspection.
Take time to assess what has led to your accumulation and consider lifestyle goals that will go a long distance toward creating a peaceful home environment. Decluttering doesn’t work on its own, but blending it with mindfulness can lead to victory.
It’s not that one cannot declutter and see great success on its own. Merely getting rid of items by a number system is how I started on the path to incredible simplicity! I’m just saying that a variety of methods can lead one to the perfect blend of their lifestyle, resulting in lasting change.
For instance:
- Short term challenges can keep forward progress through adrenalin. They can also engage family members because decluttering has been gamified.
- New routines can help to change the way one operates by streamlining actions until they become habits.
- Deeply understanding life choices can help us to modify our behavior with our newly gained knowledge and propel us into time to spend on what we choose.
