Living With Chronic Illness - What De-Cluttering, Organizing, and Simplifying Really Mean

Coping With Chronic Illness - What De-Clutter, Organize, and Simplify Mean

I do not thrive in cluttered surroundings. 

I hate living with over stuffed closets, shelves, and rooms – they exude a feeling of chaos, of imminent attack, of sensory overload.  

They make everything more difficult and complex for me.  Getting dressed becomes an ordeal.   Thinking is harder.  

And I trip a lot – which is bad for someone who can barely walk. 

I feel the same way about an over-full schedule or priorities list.  Doom.

Chronic Illness - What Organize Means

As people living with illness our goal is to make life easier so that we can do more and enjoy more.  

And our strategy is to save time and energy on every task and to make sure that every task is important and meaningful.  In other words – we don’t want to be wasting energy on unimportant tasks or on things we wouldn’t have to do if we were more organized.  

I realize that de-cluttering is hard for the chronically ill.  I live there.  But breathe easy because today is not about implementing anything (we will get to that later).  Today is about a concept.  

Semantics

The words De-clutter, Organize, and Simplify are often used interchangeably but they actually contain important differences.  

De-Clutter. 

To de-clutter means to get rid of excess stuff.  You can get rid of excess stuff by cleaning and putting things in their proper place or by actually removing it from your life.  

Having less (but not too little) is beneficial for our physical and mental health.  It’s easier to find the things we really want and need.  It’s easier to enjoy what we have.  It requires less time and energy in upkeep.  It allows us to put less thought into our possessions and more thought into relationships, spirituality, work, and/or things that bring us joy.

Organize

To organize means to channel all of your stuff into orderly lines.  It does not necessarily require getting rid of anything – it just requires setting up systems to juggle everything.

Chronic Illness - What De-clutter Means

Organizing can be beneficial.  It can help us find things easily, even on bad brain fog days.  It can help us keep things clean with a minimum of effort.  It can give us a feeling of peace.  And that leaves your brain open for other activities.  

Simplify

To simplify means to make something less complex.  It means to reduce down to the fundamental parts.  

Simplifying is especially good for us.  It does involve both de-cluttering and organizing but it stretches beyond them.  It gets to the root of the problem.  The root of the problem is that our lives are too complex.  Our systems and schedules and houses and entertainments and hobbies and wardrobes are too full, too convoluted, too ornate.  And a life that is too complex is difficult to live in.

Simplifying takes things back down to the fundamentals, the basics, the most important.   

Chronic Illness - What Simplify Means

The Difference Between the Three Words

Here’s the thing.  Something can be super organized and at the same time very complex, saving neither time nor energy.  And, we can have de-cluttered until we are bare and life can still be too difficult to engage in.   These in themselves do not make life easier. 

Now, you may just want to de-clutter your bathroom for now.  That’s fine.  That could make it easier for you in the mornings.

Or, you may just want to organize your pantry.  That’s fine too.  That could make cooking a little simpler for you.

But if you want to be able to do more and make your time count, if you want to keep up with the important things, you need to simplify.  

I think of it this way:  De-cluttering and organizing are ways to get a handle on our possessions.  But simplifying is a way to get a handle on our lives.  Simplifying is a lifestyle change. 

Why the Difference Matters:

It depends where we want to end up. 

It’s perfectly OK not to want a complete lifestyle change yet, to just want a little more organization or a little less clutter.  But knowing the difference between the words helps us look at our decisions differently.  It helps us know what we want.

The truth is, doing any of the above three things is beneficial for the chronically ill.  And doing any of the above is also very hard for the chronically ill.  We have a certain set of circumstances and these make any kind of activity difficult.  

So, coming up will be a series of Energy Economy posts (the practical series) with suggestions for accomplishing each of these things individually while at different stages of illness.  I’m looking forward to them.  I hope you are too.

And now it’s your turn.  What are your concerns or ideas when it comes to de-cluttering, organizing, or simplifying?

More from Laina Laughing

Coping With Chronic Illness posts: 

It's OK to grieve your losses
Knowledge is power
Do not eat, breathe, and sleep your illness
Part 1 - Friendship is a basic human need (the dilemma)
Part 2 - Friendship is a basic human need (who can be a friend?)
Part 3 - Friendship is a basic human need (10 ways to be a good friend while chronically ill)
Part 4 - Friendship is a basic human need (How to be a friend to a friend who is chronically ill)
2 Reasons why lying keeps you sick
Let go of the dream, accept reality, and be happy (it breaks your heart and then rebuilds it)
Accepting reality - what it does NOT mean
3 Ways to advance in a new direction
18 Ways to ward off sadness
I Can't Do It Alone
Talk.  And Talk Some More.
You Do Not Need To Justify Your Existence
Coping with Chronic Illness - Dealing with Its Unpredictable Nature

Coping With Chronic Illness - Other People Have Problems Too 
When I have no brain and no body 
Caring too much what people think keeps you sick 
Caring too much what people think - how to overcome it.

5 Ways to be a Good Friend to a Friend with a Chronic Illness
Coping With Chronic Illness Exercise - Part 1 - Is it Good or Bad?
Coping with Chronic Illness Exercise - Part 2 - 5 Myths and Facts about Exercise While Ill
5 Ways to Maintain Independence While Chronically Ill  Coping With Chronic Illness - Part 3 - How to Build Strength while Chronically Ill

Coping With Chronic Illness - For Better Health- Laugh!

Energy Economy posts:

How to get food into our mouths while chronically ill part 1 Food part 2 Food part 3 Grocery shopping and chronic illness
Wardrobe considerations for the chronically ill - part 1
Wardrobe considerations for the chronically ill - part 2  
15 suggestions for Leaving the house while chronically ill
14 suggestions for cleaning the house while chronically ill
Personal hygiene and chronic illness Dealing with people while chronically ill
12 Ways to simplify your grooming and dressing routines  

10 Ways to COPE with Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog)  
10 Ways to COMBAT Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog) 

How To Attend Important Events While Chronically Ill 

10 Ways to Make it Through the Summer Heat while Chronically Ill 

 

 

 

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