Does it bring you joy?

2020 is a year we all just want to put behind us. Whether you go to work from home or still had the daily commute to work.

The world was in a collective slow down and things just were so chaotic.

Then 2021 showed up and we thought we were getting that fresh start that we all wanted. But world events quickly gave way to the fact that 2021 wasn’t really going to be much less chaotic than 2020.

So the question is, do we really want less chaos in our lives?

Chaos is something we tend to thrive on as humans. It really does make the world go round, whether we want to admit it or not.

How many people were actually happy to stay at home and not have anywhere to go or have to rush from point A to point B to point C 18 times a day?

I personally was, but I only know a handful of other people who were as well.

As a collective, almost everyone wanted to get back to their chaotic, rushed lives. They weren’t happy with the slow-down and not doing 18,982 things a day.

I have always been happy with being able to stay home and not go places.

But what 10 months of not going places and staying home really taught me was that I have so much stuff in my house that I don’t use or touch.

All those things I thought I needed in the moment and just had to have. I don’t really use them, any of them. They literally just sit around my house collecting dust and taking up space.

There was actually a bigger lesson here though from having all of this stuff. It was more about spending money.

For many years, I used spending money as a coping mechanism for anxiety and depression. When I spent money (and it’s a similar thing for many other people), I would have a temporary high. It made me feel good inside to buy something. And 99% of the time, it was usually something I didn’t even need.

That new blanket? I already have 28 other blankets at home. Do I really need a new one?

The cross stitch kit? It’s cute. But I also have 9 other kits at home still not even opened and 6 projects just sitting in the basket waiting to be finished.

A new notebook? Yep, let’s just add it to the collection of 38 other brand new notebooks that I just needed to have. One can never have enough blank notebooks. Especially when you use the computer or the Remarkable to write all of your notes anyway. One more new notebook won’t hurt.

The books? There are over 300 books in your Kindle app just waiting to be read. There are hundreds of brand new books on the bookshelves that have yet to be touched. But this book will help with that thing I was just curious about. Plus sitting at home all the time, plenty of time to read another book.

And the countless other things that I kept buying.

Spending money to have that temporary hit of dopamine and serotonin to feel better in the moment was just that, temporary.

Usually minutes after the purchase, I was right back where I was before the purchase. So I kept spending more and more money, buying and accumulating more and more stuff, that I really didn’t need.

So for my fresh start in 2021, I am working on purging my home of things I don’t really need. I started to get rid of some stuff back in 2020 as well, because well, staying home all the time lets you really see what you do and don’t use.

One thing I have always craved my entire life is space. I like open spaces. Ironically, buying stuff to fill up my space because of the temporary hit of dopamine and serotonin to feel good in the moment eliminated a lot of the space I had in my home.

How does purging and getting rid of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years after help me commit to living a healthier life in 2021 though?

First of all, it helps me to spend less money, and even make some money by getting rid of my stuff, because I’m selling a lot of the stuff, not just giving it away. Most things are still brand new or in usable condition. Someone else could be looking for exactly what I’m looking to get rid of anyway, so let’s send it to a good home.

By spending less money, that ultimately leaves more money in my pocket at the end of the day, and that also means less stress around money for me. Who doesn’t have less stress when they actually have more money available?

Second, it helps to open up my space by having less stuff.

We live in a time where we try to impress other people by having nice stuff. And most people don’t even care about you or what you have.

Also, since we are all staying home, who is actually coming to see your stuff?

When you follow Marie Kondo, she has a method of holding an item in your hands before deciding to get rid of it, by asking if the item brings you joy or not.

I already know that most of my stuff doesn’t bring joy because I feel more joy when the stuff is gone and the space is clear and wide open.

Third, this also helps me to get more movement into my day. I spend about 15 minutes a day going through an area in my home to purge the stuff I own. This can consist of laying items out to take pictures and listing them on marketplaces or just bagging stuff to either be thrown away or donated to Goodwill. But it still consists of moving my body a little bit more each day as well.

I’m more than ready for my home to finally feel more spacious again, like it did the day I moved in 6 and a ½ years ago.

My fresh start in 2021 is having more space and less stuff.

The stuff doesn’t contribute to my happiness, so it’s time to let it go to someone else whose happiness it can contribute to.