Declutter your life
Free your mind and everything will follow
Being a college student in the 21st century can be tough. The list of responsibilities we are expected to juggle seems to grow longer and longer each day. Our self-esteem is constantly battered and bruised by society's expectations. For some of us, it’s not all fun and games. We foster unnecessary fear in our hearts of not being good enough. We mold ourselves into perfectionists and sometimes our self-worth suffers because of that.
“I’m an over-committed perfectionist and my days are filled with stress because of it.”
I am done being a perfectionist. I am tired of dealing with the unnecessary stress and hard work it takes to be 'THE BEST' IN SOMEONE ELSE’S EYES.
If you, too, are tired of being stressed join me in my journey to finding happiness again. (I'll give you a hint, it may be hiding in that drawer you've neglected to clean.) I've taken note of 5 things I've been doing that have helped me declutter my life. I hope they are equally beneficial to you.
5 Ways I've Decluttered My Life
1. Cleaning my room more often. Cleaning my room is my therapy. There's no better feeling than falling asleep in a bed with freshly washed sheets and waking up to the sunlight beaming on your bare floor. I've been getting in the habit of cleaning my room everyday for 10 minutes. It has given me a sense of renewal and clarity that is unmatched. If you haven't already, try devoting a certain amount of time to cleaning your room once a week. You'll be glad you did.
2. Organizing the files on my computer. This one takes time and patience. I've been wanting to organize the files on my computer for the longest time but I waited so long because I had two different hard drives full of years worth of data. Thanks to my computer crisis last month, my work has been cut in half. At first it may seem like chaos but if you start with specifics and categorize later, it's much easier. [HOW I ORGANIZED MY PHOTOS: Make folders for specific subjects, drag files and continue creating folders until every photo has a home. Generalize those subjects into various categories until you've got it down to a number you can handle. My folders include: family, friends, me, travel, events, food, and miscellaneous]
3. Emptying my inbox. My whole life has changed, yes it did! Since I unsubscribed from all of the useless junk in my mailbox, I am no longer being targeted by people who want my coins. I can finally focus on things that matter to me and things that are urgent (pretty sure my boss is happy about this). I’m still pretty bad at replying to emails, but now I don’t have to sift through hundreds of promotions in order to get to the good stuff.
4. Freeing up space on my phone. This one can be pretty difficult if you're a snapchat hoarder like me (follow me: @callmekeyo). I'm currently in the process of getting rid of anything I don't need on my phone - useless apps, unnecessary messages, contacts I no longer need, you name it. My goal is to have all of my important things either synced to iCloud or saved in another place so I'm not wasting space on my phone.
5. Identifying priorities and reducing my commitments. The toughest one so far... I have a lot of interests. I want to be involved in a lot of things and I Iove learning about a lot of things. However, sadly, I can only allot my precious time to a handful of commitments that are not related to my studies. If you are student, you know my pain. One thing that has worked for me is shuffling my extra-curricular activities each semester. Example: I worked in the phonology lab one semester and volunteered off-campus another semester. You can still cater to all of your interests, it's just all about figuring out when each task suits your lifestyle better.
As you work through the many steps it takes to declutter your life, I encourage you to take note of things that work and don't work. It will save you a lot of time in the long-run as you can have clear evidence to determine whether your new habits are beneficial or not.
