THIS...IS CAUSING YOU DAILY ANXIETY
THIS…Is Causing Daily Anxiety & You Might Not Even Realize It!
The Holiday Season is supposed to be a time of joy and happiness but often we can feel large amounts of stress and anxiety instead. There are several reasons this time of year can cause you stress and anxiety, but one of the reasons might be something you wouldn’t automatically realize….KID’S CLUTTER!
With the weather cooling off everyone is spending more time inside which leads to more toys being strung out everywhere, jackets taken off and just set around instead of being put up, more time inside together with the clutter right in our face.
According to Psychiatrist Sherrie Carter these are the mental damages of clutter that we don’t recognize right way until we are to the stressed out point.
Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren't necessary or important.
Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on.
Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.
Clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done.
Clutter makes us anxious because we're never sure what it's going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile.
Clutter creates feelings of guilt ("I should be more organized") and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces.
Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brain storm, and problem solve.
Clutter frustrates us by preventing us from locating what we need quickly (ex: lost shoes, homework, or keys that get swallowed up by the clutter).
Fortunately, unlike other more commonly recognized sources of stress, clutter is one of the easiest life stressors to fix.
Here are a few ideas:
Set A Clean Up Timer: Tackle de-cluttering as a family. If clutter has invaded your entire house, don't tackle the job alone. Get the whole family involved by starting with a room everyone uses and making each person responsible for a section. I have found from personal experience, that if I set a “clean up timer” for 10-20 minutes and see how much we can all get done together before the timer goes off, my kids get more accomplished during that specific time.
Create kid friendly storage spaces for frequently used toys so that your kids can quickly and easily find what they are looking for when they need it, as well as, quickly and easily clean the toys back up when they are done. If everything has a spot then cleaning can quickly be organized and efficient. This will also help everyone not to dread the initial clean up time and the mess just getting out of control.
If your kids don't use it, don't want it, or don't need it, get rid of it. You can toss it, recycle it, or donate it (one person's trash is another person's treasure), but DON’T keep it! Donating toys during the fall/winter seasons of the year will help bless parents who can’t afford Christmas presents or shelters who are running low on toys for the children staying at the shelter.
Just about every fall and winter my kids seem to have grown an inch or two so the clothes from last year are too small. Trying to organize their clothes around the clothes that are too small just cause anxiety and stress! Packing the clothes up that are too small in a box for donation at the beginning of the cooler season will help other children stay warm and avoid closet stress.
Papers, papers, and more papers seem to pile up during the week, especially with multiple kids. The kitchen table, kitchen counters, and entry way tables seem to get filled with papers that come home in my kids backpacks daily. Going through and sorting the papers into keep or throw away daily will help keep the counters stay tidy and avoid extra clutter anxiety.
I hope these tips help relieve some of your fall/winter seasonal stress + anxiety! Less and simplified is always better for mental health and even physical health by avoiding the damaging effects of stress and anxiety.
If you found these tips helpful with your family please comment below and let me know!
<3 Marlee