It’s easy for us to just live life with tons of to-dos at times. We might be busy with a hundred million things and yet we do not feel fulfilled. It’s essential for us to at times just step back and spend some time thinking of a way of de-cluttering our lives.

De-cluttering our lives starts from different areas. For starters, we could always start by decluttering our workplace/room. I have been de-cluttering my room for the past week or so. I was just busy tidying my room from all the unread magazine subscriptions, unused stationeries and old clothes. These things just take up space and at times I feel is time for us to clear up the old to allow the new to arrive.

The next place we should try to declutter would be how we spend our time. At times, many people are just spending a lot of time on pursuits which do not mean anything to them. It’s essential for us to after some time to just step aside from all the hustle and just think about things which are important to us. Focus more time on the pursuits or the activities on areas which would bring results to our lives, and when I mean results, I mean results which mean something to us. Find them and focus upon them while we could slowly phase out those pursuits which are not really important to us.

The next area for serious decluttering would be our social life. It is essential for us to really think about our social life and just think about whether the friendships we have are really worth it. Are we really going out to often? Or are we having a social life which is so busy that we do not have time for other ideal pursuits? Many times, being busy may look impressive. It seems that we are valuable and wanted. It is only after some time that I realize that most of the time people who are just so busy with so many areas in their life usually aren’t that fulfilled after all. Take some time out to just think about the friends which are slowly worth keeping. Friends who really cherish the friendship and people who really want you to succeed. I often see some people who try to bring you down. They will play the “I care for you “game and thus discourage you. Beware of friends as such.

The final thing for which we should try declutter is our emotional life, which I believe is the most important. We should at times check our thoughts and see if there are any emotions which are holding us down. Many people don’t realize it, but at times, many emotions are actually holding them back from really doing something. It might be a fear, or might be a previous hurtful thing said by someone. By decluttering our emotional life, I mean that we should try to let go of previous incidents which have happened to us. At times, this heavy emotional luggage is what that is hurting us subconsciously. It is important to let ourselves forgive and forget to past to avoid this emotional clutter. It might be someone who hurt us. It might be someone who did something bad to us. It might be a previous incident for which you have done something bad to someone and the guilt still haunts you. It is always good to let go of this emotional clutter to allow good, positive emotions to flow by.

How have I been decluttering my life ?

  1. Clearing up my room. For me my room only consists of such; books, clothes, computer and the usual stationaries. It’s my workplace and a nice place for me to sleep.
  2. Spending more time for walks alone. This practice have been crucial for me to really simplify my life. It helps me to be more aware of my thoughts instead of just living life on autopilot. Not realising where my life is heading.
  3. Cutting down on my social outings. I have just drastically cut down on the social outings in the past year or so. I always tell myself not to be too busy, because being busy does not mean being productive. I spend more time now on things which help make me more fulfilled. Things like reading, having good heart to heart conversation, and some walks in the park.
  4. Learn time management. The art of managing your time is important if you want to simplify your life. I listed down those things which I have been doing routinely and realise how much of it are just mere time wasters. Time wasters might include excessive time online and surfing the internet, or sleeping too much. I slowly manage to cut down time spend on this time wasters I have identified.
  5. Forgiving myself for the things I done. There is something powerful with regards to forgiving ourselves. At times, the person we are most judgemental and harsh to are ourselves. We might have done some mistakes in the past and the picture keeps playing in our minds. This is largely because we haven’t really forgive ourselves for those things we have done. I had done my share of stupid things which many people would have been extremely angry to know, but I try to work with my forgiveness. Forgive ourselves first, then ask for forgiveness from others. Many times, people are just unwilling to forgive you because they find it hard to forgive themselves. They might be individuals who find it hard to forgive themselves and so find it hard to forgive you. Just allow them time and pray that they have the strength the strength to forgive.