Daily writing prompt

Where can you reduce clutter in your life?

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I usually think of clutter as the junk just laying around my house. It tends to be random at first glance, and pointlessly placed. Is this a problem for me? Not the biggest one. My wife and I have always been clean and organized folks who get rid of stuff pretty quickly if we don’t use it. I think of the Legos that my kids would leave in the living room and I would always find it with my bare foot… I learned my lesson and pick up that junk so I don’t scream obscenities at inopportune times. I refuse to acknowledge that the garage has any clutter. Not in this conversation so let’s move on. Also, we went through a “Marie Kondo” phase, simplifying our stuff. I could always be better, but right now I don’t think stuff is the biggest impedance to my personal growth.

What stood out to me today was a joke my wife showed me on a little comedy piece that just hit me in a non comedic way. The comment was that folks in these times need to practice mindfulness because of the mental clutter that is so ubiquitous in our lives. In other times in the past, we had to wait and just be: there was no internet in our pocket to just access anything at anytime. Even now, I just looked up a word definition on my phone and almost hit some social media app to send me down a rabbit hole of clutter, filling me mind with literally nothing of use. I don’t even remember what was funny in the clip, but immediately felt like this was an important moment. I am wasting precious time with clutter in my mind.

What is the action step to take? Simplify my thoughts, and reduce the excess news, media, randomness, and concentrate on what is most important. Here are some of my first thoughts:

• Schedule time on social media and don’t ever just open an app as a habit.
• Fill time with hobbies that involve physically doing something: I have a goal this year to learn how to carve wood with even a small level of skill, and to make candles just because they are cool.
• Continue to use audiobooks to fill time that used to be filled with media, news, streaming TV, etc.
• Work on establishing a habit of journaling (which I used to do regularly) in the morning.

I think that would be a good start. Clutter is in my mind and to reduce it, I want to take steps to clear out the pointless input and fill that space with meaningful thought.

Does anyone else struggle with this? Let me know your thoughts and growth steps…