It's a minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily episode 2292, how minimalism and decluttering can help calm your anxiety by Karen Lezuski of KarenLezuski.com and I'm Justin Molick, happy Monday and welcome to the old podcast, the OLD podcast, Optimal Living Daily, where I read to you like a big ongoing audiobook from many different authors or to get right to it as we optimize your life. How minimalism and decluttering can help calm your anxiety by Karen Lezuski of KarenLezuski.com. Quote, For so many people, anxiety is like a dark cloud, following you around from your best days to your worst days, lurking around the corner, ready to pound said a moment's notice. Sound familiar?
If I'm completely honest, I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't battling anxiety. From when I was in elementary school to an adult, I've dealt with anxiety and panic attacks, and let me tell you, it has been exhausting. When I first found minimalism and decluttering, I was desperate, desperate to find something that would help me finally calm my anxiety. I didn't know if minimalism would make a difference, but I figured if I didn't try, I would never know.
Through the process of decluttering my home, letting go of things that don't add to my life and embracing minimalism, I felt lighter than I have in years, more at peace, calmer. Now, it'd be completely irresponsible of me to say that minimalism and decluttering will take away your anxiety or that it is a cure. Anxiety is something that is very real, and many, many people suffer from anxiety every day. There are some days where I wake up and already have that heavy feeling on my chest, but those days are a lot less now.
Minimalism has changed me. It has changed my life, and it has helped me experience more good days than bad. If you're like me and find yourself grasping at straws for a way to calm your anxiety, I want to share with you a few ways minimalism and decluttering can help. Number one, minimalism helps you clear your mind.
There have been so many studies done that have shown that clutter literally causes anxiety. When you look around your home and see stuff everywhere, your mind begins to go on overdrive. When your mind is cluttered, so are your emotions and you'll have a harder time relaxing. This, in turn, causes feelings of anxiety.
The less stuff you have around you, the more you're able to clear your mind. As you clear your mind, you'll begin to see a decrease in your anxiety. Number two, minimalism will give you gratitude. Through the journey of minimalism, you're looking at the things that you own and only holding on what brings you joy or adds something to your life.
You're deep-tiving into your surroundings and taking the focus off of material possessions. One of the amazing side effects of this practice is gratitude. Gratitude for the things that you do have. Gratitude for the little things in life like the sunshine, a warm breeze or time spent with loved ones.
Gratitude for this beautiful life. And with that gratitude comes a renewed mindset and a feeling of contentment. This will reduce your anxiety. Number three, minimalism allows you to relax more.
Quite simply, the less you have, the less you need to do, the less you need to clean and pick up, the less you need to strain and organize, and more time to relax, more time to spend laughing and playing, more time to read a good book or meditate. Practicing mindfulness and slowing down are amazing ways to reduce anxiety, and with minimalism, you'll have more time to do these things. Number four, minimalism does not keep up with the Joneses. Have you ever heard the phrase comparison is the thief of joy?
It's one of my favorite sayings and something I remind myself on in almost daily basis. In the world that we live in, it is so easy to feel like we have to keep up with the trends, be able to afford to put our kids and activities, and buy that expensive house. And when you can't do those things, you can start to feel anxious and worthless. Minimalism does not compare.
Minimalism says that what you own does not define you. It's not feeling like you need to keep up and then feeling less than if you can't. Realize that who you are is more important than what you own. Number five, minimalism reduces spending and financial stress.
There's one thing that can bring on anxiety. It is money and finances, but minimalism will help reduce that stress. No, minimalism will not give you more money. Minimalism will reduce spending, has helped many people get out of debt, and will help you save money.
When you're able to take the priority off of things and don't go shopping because you're bored or spend what you don't have on things you don't need or want, you'll see such an increase in the money you have in your pocket. I can't even tell you the difference when my husband and I sat down and added up just what we had spent in one month on eating out and going out all the time to when we added it up after deciding to embrace minimalism. Our paychecks didn't increase, but we've been able to start paying off our debt. So much of your financial stress and anxiety will go away when you cut your spending with minimalism.
And number six, minimalism will help you be more intentional and present in the moment. For me, anxiety has always been a vicious cycle. Over the years, it has morphed into being anxious about being anxious. I'm so scared of the anxiety that I'm unable to be in the present and I'm always thinking of what will happen tomorrow.
Minimalism has completely changed that. With so many of the distractions and things that don't bring me joy gone for my life, I've learned to be intentional with my time and live in the present moment. When you're able to do that and stop worrying about tomorrow or next week, you'll see such a decrease in your anxiety. You'll begin to see the beauty in the moment you are in and that will tell anxiety to hit the road.
You just will send to the post titled, How Minimalism and Decluttering Can Help Calm Your Anxiety by Karen Lususki of KarenLususki.com. I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health, what supplements to take, hours of sleep, what my diet should focus on. Superpower finally takes the guessing out of it. One simple lab test covers over 100 biomarkers, and their app gives you a complete picture of your heart, liver, hormones, metabolism, even environmental toxins.
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Decluttering and Minimalism is not a cure for anxiety, and many people would benefit from getting professional help for their anxiety. If that's you, I'd highly recommend looking for a licensed professional that specializes in anxiety. That said, this can be a nice tool and addition to your life to make things a bit less chaotic day to day. Personally, I'm one of those angry, cleaner types.
If something's bothering me, I'll just start cleaning. It's kind of weird, maybe a therapeutic or something. I'm not sure. But what I do know is that when things are cluttered around my house, my brain feels a lot more cluttered.
It's like I can't keep ideas, thoughts, really anything straight in my head if everything around me is disorganized. And that doesn't mean I have to be perfectly organized and minimal all the time. That's definitely not the case. But that just tidying up one area like my desk, for example, can help me focus, stay on track, and feel less anxiety.
So I can definitely relate and would encourage anyone with anxiety or not to take this to heart. Find a spot in your place that could use some decluttering or minimizing, maybe even one countertop, and see how you feel after. I'll be surprised if there isn't a little sigh of relief. Let me know how it goes, or we're going to continue the topic of anxiety tomorrow, actually.
So stay tuned for that. Have a great rest of your day and start your week. Thank you for listening every day and optimizing your life with me, and I'll see you tomorrow, where you're optimal life.