You must have heard it a million times how important it is to declutter your living space to attain mental clarity and happiness. You must have also learned about decluttering as a form of self-care. But how exactly do you declutter when your mind is the problem?
You can have every decluttering tool at your disposal and all the time in the world to give your home a nice declutter but if you don’t have the motivation, you won’t be able to carry out any decluttering task with success. And that’s exactly what depression does to you. It takes away the motivation to declutter by making it hard for you to focus for too long.
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Decluttering with depression can be a lot harder than one can imagine. You can have a decluttering plan in hand and yet find it hard to get out of the bed. Even with all the decluttering help that is available to you, it can seem hard to actually find time to declutter. But no matter how hard it seems to be, you deserve to live in a home that makes you feel at peace. You deserve to get a sound sleep that makes you want to go an extra mile the next day.
If you’re trying to declutter your home while going through an episode of depression, here’s a few tips and strategies that can help:
1. Give Yourself Grace
No matter how unmotivated you feel, do not beat yourself up for having clutter in your house. Stop drowning yourself in overwhelm, and remember that being kind to yourself carries more importance than decluttering your house. You need to indulge in self-love more than a clean house at the moment.
Even if having a clutter-free home is of importance to you, don’t aim to declutter your entire home in a day, or a week. Don’t be too strict to yourself while dealing with clutter. It’s alright if you are taking forever to decide what goes and what stays because this clutter is a pile-up of years, and it can’t be tackled with in a day. Sit on your couch or lie down. Wait to get into the right headspace to start decluttering your home.
2. Focus On One Area At A Time
While decluttering an entire kitchen or living room in one day feels like a huge accomplishment, you don’t want to stress yourself out by doing that. It’s great if you are tackling just one area at a time as it’s all that will help you find motivation. Start with sorting through the junk drawer in your kitchen on day 1 before moving on to the filing cabinet in your office on day 2. Don’t aim to spend more than 30 minutes decluttering every day even if it’s just a small cabinet or a countertop.
Another way to accomplish small decluttering tasks is to write them all on a To-Do list along with the dates you plan to do them on. Your decluttering to-do list can look something like this:
1st August: Car Trunk
3rd August: Sock & Underwear Drawer
5th August: Vanity Drawer
6th August: Kitchen Appliances Cabinet
Creating a To-Do list in advance will help you know what you have to do on a particular day. Once all the tasks listed in your To-Do list are done with, you’ll look back and realize how far you’ve come. Sometimes, taking baby steps is enough if you are moving in the right direction.
3. Make Small Changes In Your Habits
Depression forces you to develop habits that contribute further to the already mounting pile of clutter in your home. It makes you want to throw away your handbag on the couch rather than hanging it in your cupboard. You go several days without doing the laundry because you aren’t motivated enough. Or you get up in the morning and don’t bother to make your bed.
Although depression makes it hard for you to keep up with healthy habits, you can work towards changing them one by one. For instance, create a habit of making your bed every morning as soon as you wake up and stick to it for the next 30 days. Once this habit becomes a part of your daily routine, make way for another good habit and follow it diligently for the next 30 days.
4. Make Most Of The Good Days
Depression tends to make you feel exhausted even if you haven’t done anything productive. But every once in a while, you will come across days when you feel energetic and motivated. Use these rare days to do something that can leave a big impact on your home. Here are a few big decluttering projects you can take up on these high-energy days:
- Declutter kitchen cabinets and cupboards
- Do a ruthless declutter of your clothes
- Sort through your makeup & skincare products
- Declutter your garage
5. Look For Inspiration
Many people out there are going through the same struggles as yours, and it always helps to know their story to find some decluttering inspiration. If needed, go out and buy something nice for your home to make yourself feel good. Sometimes, something as small as a decorative basket or a storage bin can get you excited enough to start decluttering your home.
Another way to inspire yourself to declutter is to invite a friend or a family member to keep you company. This person can be your support system as you get rid of sentimental items and can motivate you get rid of items that you could never have decluttered on your own. But make sure that the friend or the family member you choose to call understands what you are going through and can give you the support you are looking for.
I’m hopeful that these tips will help you find the motivation to declutter when you are feeling depressed. And even though it seems difficult right now, it gets better over time with the little baby steps that you can take as and when it feels convenient to you.