The Stress of Clutter

Matthew Gates 2m 591

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

When we are children, we often could not care less about the way our bedroom looks, the toys we left in the living room, or in the hallway, where Mom has the potential to trip over them and fall down and hurt something. Mom, who constantly nags us to pick up after ourselves and put our things away. Some of us listen, others continue to ignore Mom. Sometimes these habits follow us into young adulthood and even into our professional lives — picking up after ourselves, or just leaving a mess wherever we go and in the path of whatever we touch.

When it comes to our office and our homes, this should be the easiest areas that we have the most control over in our lives, and we should be able to keep things neat and organized. Unfortunately, not all of us have that power, but an unclean home and an unorganized desk usually means something is wrong or there is stress in one’s life that is almost beyond one’s control. When your home or your office desk is cluttered, you are basically advertising that you are going through a tough time or you have problems somewhere in your life.

It can certainly be hard to stay organized, especially at home, if you have a wife and children, and you and your wife are both working and struggling to keep things neat and organized. You end up just giving up on trying to keep your family in order and you let them run things because you just stopped caring. It may have gotten to the point where you and your wife just do not care anymore and you leave things the way they are because you feel that they are not going to get any worse.

The only time you ever feel the need to really clean is when you have company, and some of you may not even feel the need to clean when you do have company. Sometimes your home may be a mess, but your office is neat and organized. The reason for that is because you probably feel that is the only place you have control — the only place that resembles some sort of simplicity and organization in your life.

Clutter creates stress and uneasiness not just among yourself, but among others. When others see it, they may think you are going through a tough time, or they may just think that is how you are in general. Clutter represents that things you cannot control or wish to avoid in order to avoid facing the reality of your situation — whether your issues lie at home or in the office, or both. Eventually, you want to gain control of the stress of your clutter, and if you cannot fully gain control at home, you might want to start with what you can in your office, and the first thing is the organization of the paperwork on your desk and your desk itself.

Afterwards, you may tackle the home situation little by little, giving your family responsibilities. I cannot speak for everyone, but having a family is something you created, and your family is your team. You never want to force control on your family, or make them feel as if they themselves have no power of the situation, but if your family operates as a team with everyone working together and feeling in control of their own situations, than you can begin to reduce the stress of all your clutter in all areas of your life.

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