I read an interesting article the other day — by a clinical psychologist who also specializes in counseling people who have a "hoarding disorder" — in which the author made the point that a lot of people contend not only with physical clutter in their space, but it also clutter in their minds.
It strikes me that sometimes those two actually walk hand in hand.
Because I've spent a number of years actively working on getting rid of stuff and downsizing the amount of things I have around me, I have actually experienced how it can be a relief to let go of things and get them out of your space. Not only do your surroundings look tidier and more pleasant, but there is actually a part of your mind that frees up as well.
But it also works the other way around. Or maybe it works in parallel. What I mean to say is sometimes it's our minds that are more cluttered than our space.
How is that possible?
Well, consider all the different ideas and dreams we carry around and how we give "space" to them, and perhaps even fantasize about a future in which we'll have time to do something. Thus, those plans are always active in the back of our minds even though — if we have to be completely realistic about it — a part of us realize that there's a really good chance that we will never actually get around to activating those dreams we keep planning and mulling over, inside our heads.
That kind of thinking is also a psychological weight. It may not really feel like one when you are "in the moment," but when you let go of those imaginary plans to — for example — build a vacation log cabin in the mountains, you actually end up freeing up some psychological and emotional space that could be better used for something that is a real benefit to you in the current moment.
I'm not for a moment suggesting that we shouldn't have dreams and aspirations and such things, just that occasionally it's a wise thing to sit down and review what it is we're actually thinking about.
For example, there was a time when I was walking around with a semi-secret secret hope that "one of these days" we'd be able to buy a little summerhouse back in my native Denmark; a place that we would actually own and that we could go back to and perhaps spend a couple of months there, every summer... after we retired.
That particular dream — or fantasy, if you will — took up emotional space and a few years ago (right before Covid happened) I found myself sitting down and actually walking through the reality of that idea.
Aside from the fact that it would be a considerable hassle to maintain properties in two countries separated by 4000 miles of ocean, the sheer impracticality of managing renting it out when we weren't there, not to mention actually having enough money to buy it with cash in the first place so we wouldn't have to incur additional debt pretty much all translated to a pipe dream.
Was it a sweet pipe dream?
Absolutely!
But without a doubt, short of winning the lottery and becoming suddenly independently wealthy, it ultimately stood no chance of becoming a reality.
In retrospect, it was actually a relief to remove "summer house in Denmark" off the ostensible bucket list!
We may not realize it at first, but sometimes the ideas we hold fast to... and which are perhaps sliding out of the realm of reality... can actually be causing us stress because we subconsciously are aware that we are carrying around a "soft obligation" to overcome an insurmountable obstacle.
Again, don't get me wrong… let me emphasize one more that I'm not recommending anybody should not dream or have hopes or anything like that... but it does pay to have a reality check every now and then!
And who knows?
Maybe that reality check is precisely what you need in order to be able to move forward with something else that is far more reasonable and attainable!
And, you may discover as I did, that you suddenly freed up some headspace where you had developed a ball of worry, before!
Thanks for reading and have a great remainder of your week!
How about you? Have you ever experienced moments of stress or worry over something you were dreaming to do in the future, but it was "sliding away?" Did you continue to cling to it, or could you let it go? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20220816 01:20 PDT
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