Overwhelmed!

We were having dinner with some friends and the comment came from one of them that they were "stressed out". Now there's nothing peculiar about being stressed out, but looking at their life, it's actaully quite similar to our own, yet we aren't stressed out about ours.

So it made me think about why they are and we aren't. what are we doing differently. And there was really only one thing... we finish something or become finished with something and move on.

They will complete tasks 80% and leave them, so in the end there are many many incomplete tasks that piule up and become overwhelming. And not only is the task incomplete, but the object that is a part of that task sits around incomplete and with little use.

So in the end they have a situations where they are surrounded by useless things that are a part of a project that is incomplete and they can't derive any pleasure from. Do this for a few years and suddenly you have an overwhelming amount of "stuff" and the problem becomes insurmountable.

Therefore the need to break it all down into smaller tasks that can be completed in an hour, or a few hours, or a weekend. Whatever it is, focus on a small part of the total issue and get it solved, then move on to the next.

My wife and I purge every few months. We find that the change of the season is an appropriate time because that's when you need to make decisions about clothes, like is it worth hanging on to them for anotehr year or is it time to consign or donate them. So it's at these regular occasions as well as other times throughout the year that we will go through stuff, evaluate whether we need it and usually we'll eliminate 10 to 20%.

This comes back to my experience travelling in Europe. I had no fixed address for around 18 months, and could pack up everything I had with a few hours notice. It was a very freeing time becasue I realized then, that everything I need I already have, and everything I own is more to carry. Which comes back to my blog from yesterday which refers to everything I see having no meaning.

We all fill our lives with meaningless clutter (both physical and mental) and attach meaning to it. Some deal with the clutter better than others, which basically means that some people can discard the clutter easier than others. Today being December 29th is a perfect day to set some goals, look at life and decide which clutter can be discarded and by starting with baby steps anything can be accomplished.