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Decluttering Life.

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hoarding, decluttering,

This aspect of my personality is related to this blog. I have been writing for a very long time now, admittedly it turned sporadic for the past many years. Anyways, that’s a story for another day.

As part of the blog, I got addicted to trying out so many personal care products, I started hoarding them. At one point of time, I had more products than what I could use in an entire year and I would still keep buying more.

As usual, life finds a way to balance out things. One day, suddenly, I lost interest in everything. I still have some of those expired products, almost 6-7 years later.

Lately, I have started realizing how much of clutter we hoard throughout our lives thinking we would use them but never even taking them out of the closet. Therefore, I have started paying attention to all my purchases, weighing in and waiting to make sure that it is not an impulse buy and is essential.

To support my resolve, I have augmented them with couple of decisions:

  1. I have not renewed my Prime membership to avoid impulse and absolutely useless expenses.
  2. I am no longer spending on books.
    • I aim to finish the unread books on my shelves first.
    • I would prefer to swap or borrow instead of buying. And, exchange anything which I do not like or intend to read again.
    • If I do want to buy, I would prefer pre-loved or second hand books.
    • If nothing else works, I will go to an independent book store.
  3. I do not have much interest in clothes and so I am not buying any clothes till I find myself without any option.
  4. No Online Shopping unless it is for household stuff.
  5. Personal Care products are strictly limited to what I would most definitely use and to be replaced ONLY when I am running out of my current stash.

And, slowly and steadily, I intend to add to these rules I have framed. Eventually, I hope to reduce my baggage to just enough that I can travel with it.

The Experience Syndrome.

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embracing uncertainty, fear, anxiety, new perspective, personal growth

I do a lot of unnecessary introspection and interpolation. And, sometimes, the by product is random nonsense and going from point A to point Z through skies and oceans, things which do not make sense if you do not live in my brain. Let me put it more concretely.

I am on an experience kick. Embracing uncertainty and uncomfortable situations for growth and to interact with life. Now, as part of that I realized we humans are extremely scared of the possibilities of limitlessness.

The brain does not have the capacity to imagine what it does not know. For example, I can not fathom for the life of me how to spend a day if I was Modi or Zuckerberg or anyone else. Because, I do not have the necessary resources to even begin comprehending the scale of their lives. And, to imagine reaching that state is in itself terrifying. Simply because that success is not imaginary, it is existing in the real world but my life and experiences are so vastly different from that end point, I can never think of reaching even midway to that journey.

Which brings me to the point – What makes anyone say they like something or they do not like something, especially when they have no experience with it. Will the said person try out everything and then decide whether they like the activity or not? But, then, one does not say Yes to everything. Some of the activities may be termed as a Maybe and some are straight out No.

The question is what makes them say Yes or No. Is it because they already know they do not want to try it out or just because it is unfamiliar and, therefore, uncomfortable.

Take hiking or trekking, for instance. I have never done it so I have no idea if I would like it or not. But, would I want to try it. The question is a bit intricate because if I consider the sole physical demands of the activity, I am not adventurous or outdoorsy and do not like insects or leeches clamping onto me. And, any changes in weather puts me off. But, I could definitely try out a beginner-friendly hike of a small enough duration before setting the Everest base camp as a goal.

Whereas, if you talk about Skydiving, that’s a straight out No. Because, I am scared of heights and I have no inclination to jump from a plane into nothingness when I can not jump from three stairs to the ground below.

So, there are levels of experiences and degree of discomfort we may be open to experience and the more we put ourselves into those situations,, our tolerance for handling a slightly more uncomfortable situation increases, thereby widening the range of activities we may indulge in.

Note to Self: Next time an opportunity comes, do not knock it down immediately. May be, it’s a chance to transform my horizons,.

What do You Do for Yourself Everyday?

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dog sniffing flowers, therapy, mental health

A Therapist posed this question to me. Two years back when I sought out for an emergency session with a crazy expensive celebrity counsellor on an impulse. While I had been itching to run away, my desperation kept me glued to the sofa as I waited for her.

As she asked me the question, I was stumped and flabbergasted.

I listed down my routine. I am great at doing what is required. But, none of them included anything for myself. Essentially, I was in the survival mode doing things to keep the days turning.

In hindsight, it was this question which changed everything for me. This was the start.

I realized my bucket list was untouched even though I had reached my mid-life crisis. One day, I woke up to the realization of how I was waiting for weekends desperately and passing by the working days, to the extent of not having a life on the weekdays.

In order to change that, I started to look for activities and challenges I could easily accommodate in my daily life. Thereafter, I went on heritage or nature walks, joined a book club, got over my fear of driving, took a starter course in playing piano and read a lot of new genres I would never have bothered.

I still have bad days and still do not have a system to combat them. But, I know when to push on and when its time to regroup. I am still trying to figure out things, still feel hopeless and spend days and months being disillusioned and depressed.

It started small and then I came across an interesting experiment somewhere. The idea was to divide the entire year into quarters and devote each quarter for a skill or a hobby. I decided to try it out and I wrapped up the first quarter successfully. The hobby for the second is planned and good to go.

But, then what’s life without curveballs. A big change is incoming so I don’t know if my hobby would survive the test of the hour or I might just have to cook up a new one!!