De Cluttered

One of the ways to maximize my time and do something productive when I feel idle is to update or write something here in my blog. If my blog is somehow updated, that means I have many days of idleness. So just like today I have one topic in mind - CLUTTER.


Everytime a Semester ends, I make it a habit to put all materials, notes, photocopies, etc in boxes and put in on a cupboard or under my bed or in any available space in my tiny bedroom. Little did I know (not until now) that such boxes, aside from eating a big chunk of my bedroom space, it also contribute to a wobbling clutter in my room. I am on my last year in Law School and all our subjects are pretty much reviews, Political Law Review, Criminal Law Review, etc. For that reason, I have to dig on some materials that I used during my lower years. And while digging, I couldn't find the things that I primarily need. The qualifying word "wobbling" that I used cannot have a better description of what I feel. One time, I spent my entire Sunday looking for things, going in and out of rooms, looking here and there and could not find a single thing I need. I became cranky and impatient which results to unproductivity. That's where I became aware of the paramountcy of not only an organized room but more importantly, an organized mind.

The value of an organized room, mind or thought indeed saves time - as my professor said, the most important resources that we have. True, we can never take it back, once it is gone, it is gone forever. Once we have a cluttered mind, we cannot focus on one thing and it is hard to set priorities based on importance. In the end, we either do a lot of things in random fashion and eventually failed to finish any single one of them. For example, in your workplace. Your boss gave you a lot of assignments with deadlines in it. Somehow, you panicked and don't know what to do first. So you ended up doing all at the same time. Considering you only have 8 hours of work, you failed to submit even 1 report. Your boss obviously was disappointed and asked you to do an overtime work and have atleast 1 report. Thus, the time that you're supposed to spend with your family or spend it on something productive went to waste because you failed to focus and such failure is the result of your cluttered mind.

Have you watched the show, Clean House? Have you noticed how those homeowners' demeanor before and after their house cleaned? It was as if a big load was taken off their back based on their reactions. There were even episodes that relationship once strained caused by clutters were able to get back because they became clutter-free. So, never underestimate the value of de-cluttering our rooms and minds. It really creates a huge difference.

As for me, I did have a share of some house cleaning. I took all the boxes out of my room and sort them out based on importance. De-cluttering is actually one form of self evaluation and reflection. I was shocked to know that there are things that are not at all important to keep. It is vital that we learn to let go of some things that we do not really need like old newspapers, magazines or books. I sorted those that I presently need and those that are not. I have a lot books which dates back from college and I put them in one box and I was planning to donate it or put it on booksale. Even my law books which I don't think I'm reading again will be sold to my fellow students in a much cheaper price. Oh, I also rummaged my closet and found out clothes that  are either do not fit anymore or just grown out of fashion and put them in another bag (s) and probably donate to those who need it. After all the cleaning and sorting, I felt good. I put everything on it's place. Somehow I could smell a dust-free and an organized and spacious room where I can move around and know where exactly to look for things I need without getting dizzy.

So did you de-cluttered yourself today?

MAMOI