Clutter has a bigger impact on your mental health than you may realize.  Today we talk about tackling clutter not just in the house but also online.

Transcript:

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast Working on Amazing.

This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild, because we're specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life.

A few things could lead you to feel like you're starting over.

I think a really common one is divorce.

Another common one is the death of a spouse.

But somehow, you end up in this place in the middle of your life, where everything you thought was going to happen, all your plans for the future, all your hopes and dreams just totally go up in smoke.

And it really feels like you're starting over.

If that's you first, I want to say I'm sorry.

Truly, I've been there.

It does not feel good.

But you're not alone.

You are in the right place.

Welcome, welcome.

I am so glad you're here.

So today's episode, we're gonna talk about mental health.

If you'll remember, I said when I rebuilt my life, I focused on five areas.

I focused on my spiritual health, my mental health, my physical health, my financial health, and growth and goals.

So today is mental health.

And we're gonna focus on this area of mental health that may sound a little strange, and it's clutter.

What does clutter have to do with mental health?

Well, actually, it kinda has a lot to do with your mental health.

So it can be common when you're going through a very difficult season in your life to kinda be in survival mode, where you do all the necessary things, and the unnecessary things kinda fall by the wayside.

They build up, whatever.

So when I went through my divorce, I became a single mom.

I got the kids back and forth to school.

I made sure they were fed.

I got back and forth to work.

Those were the main areas, you know?

Like I was in total survival mode.

I did the necessary things.

When we're in that mode, it can be very easy for common household task to get neglected, right?

And we just end up with a lot of clutter.

It could happen.

Sometimes it's just trash that needs to be picked up and thrown away.

Sometimes it's clothes that need to be put up.

Sometimes it's the surface of a countertop that needs to be wiped down.

Another thing that can contribute to clutter when we're going through a difficult season is sometimes, not everybody, but it can be common to self-soothe.

One of the tactics when we're really depressed can be add to cart, like shopping, buying, right?

And then that leads to more clutter and more clutter so that you've got even more stuff to try to manage.

And tackling that clutter and organizing it and making your space neat and tidy really does affect your mental health.

You can totally ignore a pile of laundry that needs to be put away.

You can ignore a stack of mail on the table that needs to be sorted through 100 percent.

There is nobody that's going to come along and tell you, you have to do it.

You are the adult, you are in charge, you can ignore it.

But when you do ignore it, it's like a notification has popped up on your phone, or an alarm has gone off, and you hit snooze, where you tell the notification, like, go away.

It's just an annoying little thing.

It's like sandpaper, it's like a scratch.

You know you have to do it, but you put it off.

And when you tackle it and take care of it, it turns that notification off, it turns that alarm off, an