Visual Clutter and Mental Clutter
One influences the other and clutter can come in many different forms…
So what are we going to look at here? We’re going to have a quick dive into some places in your life that you can simply ‘declutter’ your visual stimuli and mentally let go.
Visual Clutter
Digital - Screens!
Make your lock screen something that makes you smile.
Make your home screen something simple and inspirational.
Organise your mobile homescreen
Bottom 4 (iphone) = Top 4 action apps (for me this is call, email, safari & whatsapp)
1st page = Go to daily apps
2nd page = Organise into groups
3rd page = Organise into groups (I put apps I should probably try to avoid here like takeaway apps! haha)
Reduce the use of ‘blue’ on your screens. Blue light is more stimulating and likely to keep you awake longer so avoid this if you struggle sleeping.
Turn notifications on for the apps you need them for.. Otherwise having ‘16583’ staring at you in a red bubble over emails isn’t going to help if you’re not going to do anything about it.
But if you can do go ahead and do something about that number! Take some time to unsubscribe and delete unwanted emails and read the ones you do need! Then keep up with it daily so you don’t see the 3, 4, or even 5 figure notification return.
Surfaces
Keep surfaces of furniture as clear as possible.
Make everything that is on display into a feature/ornament/part of the decor.
Storage
Use your storage to its potential - organise each unit so you can use the storage cabinet effectively everyday.
This can mean adding compartments within the drawers to separate different items.
Remember to really consider if you need or actually want the things you are storing! Check out my other minimalism blogs to get started on how to let go of ‘things’.
Colours & Materials
Use natural muted colours where possible - Use bold/bright colours as a ‘pop’.
Use natural materials such as wood furniture - Connection to the outdoors.
Introduce soft furnishings - My go to is blankets, love a good blanket, especially ‘teddy bear blankets’ or chunky knit blankets.
Mental
Worry & Stress
Write it down, create a list and face what is cluttering your mind. I would often sit there worrying about the next thing that I couldn’t focus on what I was meant to be doing. Noting it meant that I wouldn’t forget and leave my worries to the last minute but could also get on with the current task at hand.
Talk it out - Even if you still don’t know what you’re worrying about. Ash has often heard me say ‘I feel nervous but I don’t know why…’. That is such an annoying place to be in but even by saying it out loud it can relieve some of that internal worry.
Take a moment - Stress can overwhelm you and sometimes you need to take a break to reboot. Do something you enjoy or something you don’t need to hard-core focus on and then come back to the task at hand.
Exercise - Let out any frustration from the day and push yourself. It will make you feel better in the long run.
Turning Off
This starts with turning off distractions e.g. phone notifications etc. But then you have to switch off mentally too. This is especially true with work and links to stress. You need to compartmentalise some areas of your life otherwise your bad work day will affect the rest of your day and relationships too.
Then tuning out…
Relaxing
Do a breathing exercise for 2minutes - You can find this sort of thing on youtube or the Fitbit app. Very quick and simple way to make your mind focus solely on one thing and drops your heart rate, therefore making you more calm.
People also do things such as meditation or yoga etc. to focus on breathing, stretch the body and relax themselves. I definitely have not mastered any of these yet so I’ll stick with the 2minutes only at the moment!
Sleep
Don’t look at your phone at least 30minutes before you want to go to sleep.
Listen to a mindfullness audio or white-noise. I find again that the Fitbit app is a good place to start with trying these out.
Just some quick ideas that may help de-stress your mind overall! The main distraction and constant reminder of stress/worry for me is my phone. By organising it in a way that works for me and my priorities means this has less of an effect.
A final trick I have here for technology is to slightly change the layout of your phone apps every now and then. This means you are not automatically going straight onto emails as a habit and can catch yourself doing so.
Anyway let me know if you’d like anymore details on any or all of the points above! As always let me know anything you do to declutter your spaces, screens and minds each day!