Decluttering my mind starts with decluttering my environment, and that means that I need to create new habits. Or at least revive old ones.
I did a thing today. It wasn’t a big thing, by humanity’s standards, but it was still SOMETHING. And I did it all by myself!
Before I start sounding too much like a politician, let me clarify. What I did was to upend one of my kitchen drawers, wipe it out, and sort and declutter the contents! I haven’t done that in years. Not because I did not see it as necessary – I simply did not have the energy for it! (Hello, Depression!)
What I found was that I am a borderline hoarder. I have more measuring spoons than what most normal people need. I also tend to keep trash! Well, not anymore, as those items have all been disposed of properly! I also found all the components of my mandolin slicer and put them together. That, by itself, is excellent progress. Not knowing where all the blades are means that I do not use the slicer as much as I should. That, in turn, increases the cost per use of the item. Not by much, but still…
Doing the dishes also made me realize something else. I love cooking and baking, but I haven’t put my heart and soul into that lately. My dinner tonight was a brothy soup that could be best described as lacking. Halfway through the meal I had to admit to myself that I am truly capable of messing up a simple dish such as soup. BUT instead of putting myself through the wringer as I usually do, I spent the rest of the meal brainstorming possible solutions for next time. Now I know that I used too much liquid in the soup, to begin with, and the chunks of meat are too large. Next time, I shall cut the chicken breasts into much smaller pieces, use half the amount of liquid that I did this time, and cook it for at least 30 minutes longer to let the flavors marry properly.
It’s good that the new habits I decided to cultivate led to me having a better mindset. As my psychologist said, she doesn’t possess a magic wand and it will take a lot of effort on my side, but the improvements will be worth the effort. Small improvements, day by day.