Why Organizing is Essential to your Well-being
The Importance of Organizing
Full-time jobs, careers, relationships, children, personal wellness and fitness, technology, finance. Whether you are in a marriage with two working people or a single working parent, there is no doubt that life can be overwhelming and often, simply too much. The one glaring item that we see over and over again that falls to the wayside, is the HOME. How can we tend to all of life’s demands and maintain a clean, organized and tidy home?
Why is making the time to today and organize our homes even so essential? Let us tell you what we have seen and learned:
· Organization creates focus
· An organized home contributes to our personal health
· Being organized saves money and creates an easier life
· If we are organized, we are free.
Let’s break it down.
To some, trying to organize our home can be not only overwhelming to think about, but a huge chore that takes a lot of time that you probably don’t have. We often neglect to arrange our belongings, papers, our car, our clothing piles because it just feels low on the list of daily priorities. However, the more we put it off, the more overwhelming it becomes and the more chaotic our home environment gets.
We had a client recently who was drowning in years and years of papers. Current mail was mixed with old, magazine subscriptions were in abundance, advertisements, receipts. She was at the point where her ability to sort through things and throw things away was so daunting that it fostered deep shame and fear. This scenario, unfortunately, is not atypical.
When people hear the word “organize”, many instantly think of work and get bummed out to even think about it. While it’s true that this can be work, the benefits are enormous.
So, why should we organize?
1. Organization creates focus
When the house is tidy, the mind is tidy too. Most of us are familiar with sitting down to a cluttered desk and feeling chaotic. When things are strewn all over, true focus is impossible. Likewise, the opposite is also true. You will find that your concentration improves if you create a less demanding living space, opening up possibilities that before felt unachievable.
2. An organized home contributes to our personal health
Studies have identified a direct link between the stress hormone cortisol and clutter. An increased level of cortisol is known to be linked to depression. The more mess, the more cleaning is needed and the burden this generates tends to turn into a debilitating cycle. Decluttering can reduce stress and depression.
Decluttering also improves air quality. Our mom’s favorite phrase growing up was, “Please get rid of those dust collectors!” Mom was right. All of our possessions gather dust particles, increasing the contaminants, dust and allergens floating in the air in our homes. If our items are limited, clean and organized into boxes when appropriate, this greatly limits the toxins in the air.
You can not only help to improve your mental health by removing things that you’re no longer attached too, but it can inspire you to live better and sleep better.
3. Being organized saves money and creates an easier life
How many times do you say or hear your child say or partner say, “Where is my???“ “Mom, did you see my????” Frequently, if you can’t find something after spending way too much time looking, desperation and agitation set in, and we go out and buy another one of the missing items. This costs us both time and money. Later on, as we straighten up a bit, we may find it and decide to keep it. Now we have more than we need. The cycle is now established.
Having an organized home means having the answer to that constant, nagging question, with “It’s where it should be!” While trying to organize a house can be difficult, in the end it will save you money and definitely lots of grief.
4. If we are organized, we are free.
More and more, people feel overwhelmed or depressed by their way-too-abundant possessions. As long as we consume and use products to supplant what we truly value, to prove our place among others or shape our social identity, we will never feel fulfilled. When we take the time to organize our home, we see what we actually have; we go through an emotional process of letting things go things we don’t need and perhaps realize do not represent our true selves. We can begin to remember that our values run deeper than material goods, that the pursuit of meaning and self-identity is not solely based upon what we purchase and what we own. We can begin to be free.