Internal clutter and invisible planets
Four years ago, I stumbled upon minimalism. Partly by accident, and partly, I have come to believe, because of an unconscious wish for things to be different. For life to be different.
Minimalism seemed to be the answer to everything. All I had to do was to get rid of my belongings, and the space they left open was immediately filled by inner peace.
For a while.
Then, little by little, the soothing effect of my new possession-reduced life started wearing off. I began to feel all the invisible clutter that remained. I realized that physical possessions are not the only kind of clutter. In fact, it is probably not even the most important one.
Digital clutter, bad habits, jam packed calendars and to-do lists, internalization of unhealthy social norms, unrealistic expectations, and just the average spectrum of human emotions are all invisible types of clutter. This is the internal clutter we always carry with us, and their hidden, unconscious, and utterly sneaky nature make them all the more dangerous.
Noticing these kinds of clutter is a bit like discovering distant planets. Sometimes the planet is too far away to actually be seen, but we know it’s there, because of its gravitative effect on the movement of surrounding objects.
My invisible clutter gave itself away because it had a gravitative effect on my emotions, leaving me more stressed, worried, irritated, and tired than I expected from a newborn minimalist. By asking myself why I had these feelings, and where they came from, I became better and better at detecting the invisible clutter that caused them. A bit like NASA priming their methods for planet discovery.
When I learned where to look, the list of invisible clutter quickly grew long. Here are the top three:
Feeling guilt for having an unproductive day at work, because I have internalized the expectation that I should always achieve.
Hating my writing and wanting to abandon this entire blogging project, because I compare myself with Ali Abdaal and other geniuses.
Feeling bad for sleeping in, again because I have internalized the expectation of always being productive.
Having identified some of the internal clutter, the next question to arise was how to get rid of it. Unlike a sweater that is gone from both closet and mind after a visit from your younger brother, a bad habit, when thrown out, has the annoying tendency of creeping right back.
Up until now, my psychoanalytic planet-hunting has made me believe there is no one solution to invisible clutter – but a combination as varied as sufficient sleep, therapy, a supportive social circle, and minimalism.
As a reader, it must be frustrating to reach the end of this article, without receiving a better solution to invisible clutter than “it’s complex”. However, that is exactly why this blog exists. Because the world is complex, and I want to figure out at least a small part of it. So please come along for a journey of planet hunting, minimalism, self-reflection and tame jokes.
Until next time 😊
PS: If you’re not yet able to name your internal clutter, you can always name a planet.
