When the things we own, own us
Or the hardships of letting go
As you know, there is a huge interest in the trend of de-cluttering, or is it only a trend? Can we imagine living in a world with less, buying things only when it is necessary and not turning our closets into our biggest nightmare? To be honest, it is possible, but only if we put our minds on it, as old people say “you can lead the horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink it”! Or can we be more optimistic and say that if there is a will, there is a way.
But why so many people dismiss the idea of minimalism as something ridiculous and just a trendy way to express yourself, and why so many of us struggle to free the closet, to rid of the old things we haven’t used for ages and refused to let go of that box filled with old memories but unusable items.
The answer is one, we attach too much emotional meaning, and we stubbornly refuse to let it go. That’s why we need to have a conversation with our inner self and ask the question — are you ready to let go and free some space in your emotional and physical life?
Of course, for some of you may be easy to free the wardrobe of your possession and then acquire a new one, but that is not the point, the point is to learn to be free and live with less, rather than living in chaos in your mind, body, and spirit.
Before starting the de-cluttering ritual, it would be better if we prepare for it emotionally.
From a psychological point of view, if we touch an object, we immediately want to own it, the business people and the car sellers know that, that’s why they give you free ride so as you can enjoy the car, touch it and immediately activating an impose of ownership. You want to have it!
In one experiment, the participants are divided into two groups, the first group has to sell a cup to a participant in another group, after that the people who brought the cups are asked to give the cup back and they will be paid for it, they will be given another cup as a compensation, it turns out that the majority of the participants refused to give away their first cup even though that there is incentive and they will receive a new one. That experiment shows how easily we can get attached to n objects, it is my cup now, I will not give it back. In another experiment, the participants are asked to switch different objects, if you have a cup and I have chocolate, would you like to switch, it turns out that the overwhelming majority of the participants would rather keep the mug than switching it for a bar of chocolate.
In fact, our sense of ownership is developed earlier in our life than most people expect, between age of two and six, according to the psychologist Jean Piaget at the age of two we have already know what does it mean to own something, and when we reach six years of age we develop the so-called “endowment effect”. In a nutshell, the endowment effect illustrates the case of experiencing a higher degree of pain when we lost a possession than joy when we acquire a new one, and putting a much bigger value on our possessions that the actual one. That is not just a dress, it is a beautiful fabric, so smooth to the skin, and all the wonderful memories I have with it! To put it simply, we exaggerate and we turn into a real drama queens when we have to part with our possessions (my precious!).
But things can be different, we can not only de-clutter our space, but our minds,too! Here are the top benefits of decluttering!
1. Put the chaos in order
Yes, we all live in chaos, but crave for an order. Have you tried to find something with urgency but not being able to locate it, you know that you must have left it somewhere between the shelves, but it is not here now, can we take a moment and take a deep breath before the panic attack kicks out? Of course, we cannot locate things every time, but we can place them in more accessible places, for that reason we need more space, to have space we need fewer things.
2. Embrace simplicity or just be practical
If we look at the most practical side of de-cluttering, I need to quote one of my friends, he got a lovely apartment in the city I used to live, and his style is simple and pure minimalism, when I asked him when he decided to be a minimalist, he shrugged and said to me “I am just too lazy, now I don’t have to clean so much!”. Joke aside, but if we think about it, it is a crystal clear, we would have more space and we would clean our home easier with fewer things in there.
3. Tidy room — peaceful mind
Ah, I love the feeling of happiness and content when I clean my room and put my wardrobe in order, I just want to stare at my clothes and not touching anything there. To be honest, several times I organized my clothes by colour, it is great (the things you enjoy when you get almost 30!). Never mind, we all know that when our home is in perfect condition, not a speck of dust to be seen, we feel a bit calmer and ready to seize the day, that is why we put the things under control (or at least we think so!).
4. Starting to be less materialistic
Do not get me wrong here, I am not saying that we need to stop buying things, we all need food and water, but we can start buying things which can be used over time, for example, we can use re-usable bottle and still drink water every day, it is good for the environment, less plastic. When we buy clothes, we can choose slightly more expensive brands which can be used for a couple of years instead of being slaves to high-street fashion trends which change quicker and quicker, we can save money and time and also learn how to dress stylish instead of being trendy every season.
I would love to share with you how I decided to get rid of my old books, but I will leave that for another article! Which reminds me that I need to tidy up my room, opps!
