Remove before adding
Well-being 🌿 | Making progress 📈 | #Minimalism #Clutter #Progress
TL;DR
Embrace the minimalist approach for improved mental health.
Before adding new processes or habits, consider what you can remove or simplify.
Accumulated routines, belongings, and habits can create unseen turmoil, so prioritise removing non-essential elements to create space for what truly matters.
Seed
You probably already heard the minimalist approach “less is more”. It’s often heard in art, architecture and other aesthetic fields. As cliché as it might sound, there’s value in it for your mental health.
Typically, if you realise that your life needs a change, before thinking about adding new processes, goals or habits, before buying something new to cope with the discomfort you feel, take time to investigate if there’s something you could remove instead.
Adding something new often feels easier and more exciting than looking at the clutter we’ve built up over the years. But removing something or simplifying it could be the change you really need.
Over time, routines, belongings, and habits can create unseen turmoil in our lives. As we accumulate objects, subscriptions, and habits, they become part of our daily environment, obscuring our view of what is truly essential.
So before creating a new habit, check if you can get rid of an existing one. Maybe you have time or energy-consuming habits that are not essential to your life. And getting rid of them could save you the space you need. Simplify your life, prioritise meaningful experiences, and reclaim clarity and focus.
Think about it now, what is one thing you could stop doing or you could stop using that would leave space for something more valuable to your mental health?
And remember that you and your environment are always changing. A decision you took one year ago might not make that much sense anymore. So assess the situation based on your life today and where you want it to go.
Example
Think about the tube at peak time. When the doors open, you need to let people out before letting people in. Well, similarly, when your life is too full, you need to let some things out before letting others in.
Bonus
Slightly off-topic, but since I’ve mentioned minimalism, I’d like to leave a quote I heard thanks to The Minimalists:
“You must remember to love people and use things, rather than to love things and use people.”
Fulton J. Sheen