(Decluttering in) The land of tea

I am currently in the land of tea - and discovering that you can continue to declutter one item a day even whilst travelling! I had intended to simply suspend the one-a-day rule whilst on the move but no - when travelling, I use different bags and purses and things. I find clutter. I remove it. Ta da. It feels good. I'm finding as I go on that it gets easier and easier to let things go, and I feel more comfortable with the things that are left.

In one of the decluttering blogs/videos I have been perusing - I can't remember where, if anyone reading knows please let me know and I will add a link - I came across the idea that clutter talks. Clutter speaks to you. You allow stuff to become clutter because you can't or don't want to make a decision about what to do with it, so you put it down and every time you walk past it, it says: 'I'm here! I'm still here! You need to [read/file/respond to/find a home for/get rid of/etc] me!' At first, this is a quiet reminder but it builds, and the more things you have, the more your home or work space becomes a cacophony of reminders for things you need to deal with. It becomes overwhelming, so you switch off, go away, or focus on something else. The chorus of chaos continues.

Each item that I am decluttering - however small or seemingly insignificant - simultaneously removes one voice, one instrument, one (dis)harmony from that orchestra of mental as well as physical clutter, and at the same time makes me feel more confident about my ability to deal with everything else. 

I'm now beginning to wonder what it would feel like to reach 'clutter silence'? To have no more reminders that I am avoiding? The first time I thought about having nothing left on my 'to do' list, no more superfluous stuff in my life, it was utterly terrifying. What would be left? But now I find it increasingly intriguing. When everything else gets taken away, what is left will be - me. And the things that are most important to me. I'm quite curious to see what that feels like.

But I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. One step at a time.

Picture from Wikipedia.

Car-free Sunday

This morning, I woke up, and it felt different. Odd. Weird.

Quiet.

Then my boyfriend commented that today is an auto-free day. Ahah!

As a city dweller who grew up in a more suburban, almost rural environment, I miss quiet, reflective days. I miss sitting on a fence listening to the wind in the trees. But today, I don't miss the countryside as much as I normally do. Brussels is a very green city, with plenty of parks and trees and people-spaces, but today without the cars, it's blissful. It feels quiet and calm and restful, tranquil and pensive. And there are so many people. People on rented bicycles, walking, playing with their children in the streets.

On Resolution

(1) Rediscover silence. There is no opportunity for quiet here, really. Everywhere you go there is background noise, usually music. This is a nation obsessed with music - in the metro stations (where they play classical music in the evenings to keep drunken youths out!), in supermarkets, in shopping centres. Add to this a house in which at least three of the following can always be heard: a loud and violent game on X-box, CSI or similar on the tv, The Big Bang Theory on a laptop in the SAME ROOM as a tv, a very loud boiler, a poppity-ping, and someone running up or down stairs. This is not a recipe for tranquillity and contemplation. I think I am distracting myself too much with the delights of youtube and my DVD collection, so I think a little more reflection and quietness would not go amiss.

(2) Stop sitting still. This may sound like it contradicts (1) but it's part of the whole trying-to-avoid-meaningless-distraction. And also getting more exercise, which boosts my mood and my energy levels. Ideally, this becomes a postitive cycle. Anyway, the idea is that when I've got an hour to kill, I go for a walk or cook a more elaborate meal rather than watching youtube and eating speculoos biscuits.

(3) Don't wait. This really is the key resolution for this year. If there's something I want to do, I'm going to try and make it happen. I have a tendency to wait - I'm not really sure what for. For it to happen on its own, or for someone else to guess and make it happen for me - I have no idea. But it really would be a waste for me to spend my time waiting for something which I could have achieved or experienced in the same amount of time.

Notably absent from this list are the things which people (read: my parents) would probably like to see. Key to these being punctuality, being more accountable, and getting a decent job. My current attitude is that, if I can incorporate the three ideas above into my life more effectively over this next year, then things like punctuality and accountability will naturally follow. I'll keep telling myself this, thank you very much.