If your mind is a room, is it clean? In today’s social media age, hardly anyone’s mind is clean.
Table of Contents
Let’s imagine a scenario…
You wake up and the first thing you check is your phone.
You scroll through your notification and replied to a few texts and then you hop on to Instagram or Tiktok.
Before you know it, you’ve just spent half an hour in front of a screen and you haven’t even brushed your teeth or had your breakfast yet.
You hopped out of bed quickly and get to work. You listened to the radio as you were on your way there.
“Oh interesting, Russia is advancing in Ukraine and the food prices are rising again”.
Throughout the entire day, your phone keeps sending you notifications and you found it hard not to check.
You may think:
“I wonder who tagged me. Do I look good in the picture?”
“I wonder who commented and what did they say? Is it about me?”
“I wonder who liked my pictures?”
“I wonder who’s active online right now?”
You interacted with people all day at work. People who you don’t particularly like but you put up with them because you need the job.
It takes a tremendous amount of energy to put up your work persona but you did it anyway.
You tried to drown out the office gossip (or perhaps you do want to know what’s up) but you still learned that Danny is getting a divorce because his wife cheated on him.
Speaking of divorce and couple drama, you couldn’t help but notice all the news and posts on Instagram about Depp and Heard’s trial. Millions have tuned in and the comment section fired up. You had to quickly hide the phone away when your supervisor entered the room. You were almost caught.
It was free doughnuts Tuesday so you grabbed a few treats for yourself even though you probably shouldn’t because you’re on your new diet (which you picked up from social media). You spent the rest of the day feeling tired and without energy.
You go to work in the early mornings when the sun wasn’t shining yet and by the time you get off, the sun is about to be off duty too.
When you get home, you watch the news as you eat dinner with your family and used your phone to scroll through more content on social media until you fall asleep at 12:30 am.
This is how most people live their lives.
Every waking moment of their lives is constant stimulation. They don’t give themselves a break to recover from all the dopamine rush the world sends their way.
Is it surprising that many of us are facing the following issues now?
- Insomnia
- Low self-esteem
- Low confidence
- Unhappiness
- Depression
- Weight gain
- Burn out
- Mental issues
We are simply not designed to live the lifestyle that we so willingly accept into our lives without a second thought.
How to declutter your mind
Your brain is cluttered. Here’s what you need to do to declutter it.
1. Unfollow accounts
Doesn’t matter which social media platform you’re on, I want you to take a look at who you are following and unfollow accounts that aren’t conducive to your well-being in any way.
In fact, unfollow accounts that aren’t helpful to you.
This may be a different story if you use social media for networking and you can’t exactly unfollow everyone of those accounts that aren’t helpful to you.
In those cases, I turn off notifications on those accounts. That way, I don’t unfollow them and I can turn on notifications later on if I want to.
The reason you should unfollow unhealthy accounts is that they’ll distract you from your goals.
That 10 minutes of scrolling ended up delaying 30 minutes of work because it’ll take more time to refocus.
All that scrolling and constant exposure to other people’s lives also may make you feel more depressed than you would’ve.
Studies have shown that just spending 15 minutes scrolling social media makes people feel less happy.
Social media can still be somewhat good for you if used in the right ways. Follow accounts that share useful educational content.
2. Don’t send or reply to anyone’s texts for a while (tell them beforehand)
It may be a good idea to go silent for a while.
The reason why you should avoid reading any texts is that we may not understand the full extent of how someone influences us if we were never far from their last interaction.
We’re the result of 5 people we spend the most time with and if you always spend time with the same 5 people you’d never actually give yourself a chance to explore who you are beyond the same people’s influence.
If you can, don’t send any text or reply to anyone for a while. Give it at least a day and you may notice some changes good or bad.
You may realize that you’re no longer as anxious maybe because you don’t feel like you have to keep checking your phone to see who texted you.
I used to over-extend myself and be there for everyone at the first moment’s notice.
I’d drop anything I’m working on if someone needs me. I’d reply right away and keep on checking my phone.
I thought I was being nice and kind to people but I also realized that people weren’t taking me as seriously or reciprocating the effort as much.
When I stopped replying right away people start to value me more.
I also realized just how bad being glued to my phone was for my mental health.
All that constant messaging back and forth also eat up a lot of your time.
You’d send a text and check your phone every few minutes to see if they replied to you. It eats up a lot of your energy as well and isn’t good for your mental health.
You should give yourself a designated time to respond to texts and avoid checking your phone non-stop otherwise.
3. Go off social media for a while
Social media isn’t good for any of our mental health (even if it may be helpful for those trying to build a brand).
We’re bombarded by endless short clips here and there that get us hooked. You can try watching it all but it’s impossible to.
You’d waste hours of your day without doing something productive.
It’d leave you with a feeling of inadequacy particularly when you compare yourself to everyone else you see on social media (with or without your awareness).
Take some time away from social media and you may notice you feel happier, more confident, and more able to focus.
Here’s what I’m planning on doing with social media:
I’m going to only check social media at the end of the day instead of many times throughout the day. This will prevent me from getting distracted so I can better focus on my goals.
My mental space would also be cleaner without all the constant dopamine rush from social media.
Maybe I’ll write an article on my experience and share it with you 🙂
4. Don’t watch or read the news for a while
News is often negative.
They literally pick the worst things you should know and make sure you know them.
It really puts me in a bad mood whenever someone tells me something negative about the world. One of my close family members does that a lot. And she has since learned to do that less.
Similarly, when you watch or read the news your brain is being influenced to think about things you otherwise wouldn’t have.
Nobody is going to feel happy after learning about some tragic story and, just like that the tone for the rest of the day is set.
We don’t always notice how keeping up with the latest news impacts us but they do.
There are a lot of things that you don’t need to know (anything that has to do with celebrities) and it would waste your time to learn.
Turn off the TV, turn off the radio, stop checking Twitter, and don’t visit any news sites. You may notice your inner peace returning.
Of course, I’m not telling you to go completely media free but to pick a specific time to consume news each day and occasionally reward yourself with a news-free day.
5. Go out and enjoy the sun and fresh air more
It’s no good to stay indoors all day every day working on something without enjoying the fresh air or the sun.
It’s so easy to fall into that habit of being at home all day every day and going out only when necessary particularly if you work from home and you’re busy with whatever you’re working on.
It’s so important that we put down our devices and realize how much there is beyond screens.
6. Focus on eating when you’re eating
Don’t watch TV as you’re eating.
I know many of you watch YouTube, Netflix, TV, etc when you’re eating.
This isn’t a good practice because instead of focusing on what you’re eating and enjoying every bite, your brain goes into overdrive.
You already stare at a screen all day. The last thing you need is more screentime when you should be resting.
7. Try meditation
Believe it or not, there are many types of meditation. Focusing on eating is one type of meditation.
Meditation doesn’t necessarily mean sitting in silence doing nothing on top of a remote mountain or a remote beach.
You can try meditation any time anywhere (perhaps not when you’re driving).
There are guided meditations where you listen to someone talk as they guide you to breathe in and out.
There is also meditation where you sit there in silence and let your thoughts come by without judgment as though you’re watching traffic as it goes by without intending to interrupt.
Then, there’s the mediation where you focus on something really hard.
Pull out a piece of raisin or chocolate. Notice its texture, the feeling of it on your hand, the smell of it, how the light reflects off of its surface, how it taste, etc. Your job is really to experience that piece of food as much as you can without distraction.
8. Try some yoga and light exercise
Yoga and light exercise can help you feel calmer and release the right chemicals that you are meant to produce.
The human bodies have evolved over millions of years to release certain chemicals that make us feel good but modern life has taken that away from us.
Go try some yoga and some light exercise. You don’t have to go full-on and become a pro athlete.
In fact, even some fast walking would do you just fine as well.
9. Cut off toxic people
Here are some types of toxic people to cut off:
- People who gossip
- People who are passive-aggressive
- People who are aggressive
- People who give back-handed compliments
- People who compare excessively
- People who are negative
- People who don’t respect you
- People who make you feel uncomfortable
You want to cut off toxic people because they could have been pulling you down and slowing you down in life without you suspecting.
This simple act can help you detox your cluttered mind.
10. Go catch up with some friends in real life
Talking to people online vs talking to people in real life are two completely different things.
One of the best to declutter is instead of looking at your friends’ selfies and liking their pictures, you invite them out over some coffee.
It’s much better than commenting a “Beautiful!”, “:)”, “Great job!” or getting a “how are you” once in a while.
11. Seek complete solitude for a day
You don’t have to cut everyone off completely for a long time. All you have to do is to take some time away from everyone for a day or half a day.
Tell them you’re fine and will respond at the end of the day. Take half a day on a road trip to a beach or somewhere far from where you’re used to. You can even just seek solitude in your own home.
This act may even help you identify what is stressing you out. It could be the most unexpected thing.
12. Try vlogging
You don’t have to show your vlog to the whole world.
During the summer, I like to walk around a hiking trail near my home and just vlog. No one would be around and I’d be talking into a camera letting out everything that’s been bothering me or anything on my mind without any topic planned.
I don’t hold back. I just let it flow out. And then I’d delete the vlog or keep a small clip of it.
You can also vlog at home using just your laptop. This is a common practice I do on a near-daily basis. I’d talk on my laptop letting whatever thoughts I have flowed out of me. It’s a great way to practice communication skills.
We don’t always know what’s bothering us until we talk it out. It’s an art form itself to look into ourselves, figure out what’s wrong, and communicate it in a way that can be understood in words.
It is perhaps one of the best ways to declutter your mind.
Go ahead, whip out your phone and start talking. There’s no instruction just talk like you would a friend. And when you’re done, you can delete it or keep the vlog.
13. Try journalling
I’ve been journaling since I was 9 or 10 and have written quite a few notebooks worth of content.
Journalling is the simple act of writing down what you have on your mind. You don’t even have to write it on paper, you can type it up.
In fact, I find it easier to type down how I feel than write it down since I can’t go back and edit things as easily and I can’t ctrl + f what I want with paper.
Do whatever makes you happy either that’d be paper or a screen.
Here are some writing prompts you can try:
- How do you feel today?
- What happened today?
- Why do you feel the way you do today?
- What do you plan on doing tomorrow?
- What are 3 things that make you happy today?
- What 3 things are you grateful for today?
- How would you rate your productivity today?
- What would you change about today if you could go back in time?
- What did you think you did well today?
It’s not hard to journal. There is no right or wrong answer and there is no need to procure a 100% spelling-free and grammatical error-free piece of writing.
Just write down whatever it is that you have on your mind without restriction.
Journalling is a great way to organize our thoughts and declutter our minds.
14. Go volunteer and do some charity work
Don’t just sit around and do nothing. Why not take up some volunteering?
Taking some time in service of others can help cultivate compassion in you which is a quality that everyone should try to identify more with.
You may find trouble getting some volunteer duties since some volunteering programs can be hard to get into and the spots fill up quickly.
You don’t have to join an organization to serve others. You can just buy some food from the grocery store and hand it out to homeless people.
Do not film homeless people.
How would you feel if someone shove a camera in your face documenting your lowest moments in life for the whole world to see and you just have to take it because you need the food or their help?
Please don’t use someone’s misfortune to make yourself look good.
You aren’t helping anyone for any reward or recognition. There’s no need to tell anyone what you did.
Here are some things homeless people need:
- Perishable food (give them a can opener if you give them canned food)
- Food that doesn’t need to be heated up
- Snacks
- Water
- Socks
- Sweater
- Jacket
- A tent
- Hand sanitizer
- Wet wipes
- Shoes
- Tissue paper
If done right, doing things in service of others can be one of the best ways to declutter your mind.
Reserve some of your dopamine origin from helping others.
15. Prioritize sleep
You also want to prioritize your sleep. As you’re sleeping, your brain clears out junk stuck in your brain and without sleep, it piles up leading to more errors.
This is why people who have poor quality sleep are more likely to have mental issues.
We all need sleep.
You should:
- Get 8 hours of sleep per night
- Sleep on time
- Sleep early
Here are some tips to help you sleep better:
- Shower before you sleep (your skin would feel so amazing against the soft fabric of the bed)
- Don’t drink too much liquid before you sleep so you don’t have to get up and pee
- Set an alarm so you aren’t afraid of oversleeping
- Avoid screen time 1 hour before sleep
Final thought
There are so many ways to declutter our minds. I hope you have learned something today.
Tell me, what else do you do to declutter your mind? 🙂
