Picture this: a house filled floor-to-ceiling with old newspapers, magazines and videotapes. There’s barely room to move between the tottering stacks of media that, no doubt, will never be looked at again. All it does is accumulate dust, take up space and make it harder to find the things you really need.
You could be forgiven for wondering how anyone could live in such conditions. Perhaps you think the owner is lazy. Perhaps he needs professional help… we’ve all heard of obsessive compulsive disorder, right?
Well before you get too judgmental, pick up your phone. Open the picture gallery and see how many images you have stored. Then check your inbox. Bet there are more than a few emails you could do with deleting.
A recent report from the BBC suggests that if at any point in the last week you’ve struggled to find a digital file on your phone or computer, you may well be guilty of digital hoarding – an inability to dispose of files that, odds on, you’ll never need or use again. Indeed, a recent study suggests the average inbox has 102 unread emails in it…
It’s just one of the ways in which we make things needlessly difficult for ourselves – surely we have enough stress in our lives as it is? Especially when a simple spring clean of your email will remove all the aggravation of hunting around for that elusive file.
It’s just one way to stop things getting on top of you after the Christmas break. For ten more, check out list of tactics to de-stress in the new year.
