TMedina

There is an overwhelming sense of nostalgia when you go back through old papers and suddenly get dragged down memory lane.

From time to time, I wonder if I'm drifting from the core concept, but I believe it all loops together in a glorified Gordian knot. I found this article entitled "The Disease of More" to be very interesting, and provided some insights into what we do and why we do it. Well, some of us at least: https://markmanson.net/disease-of-more EtA: along the same vein, this article as well: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-29295/how-i-went-from-being-a-hoarder-to-a-minimalist.html

YAY!

Have you tried taking a couple of days off?

I tried looking up agomelanin, but I didn't have any luck. Are there any side effects to the medication that might be contributing to your physical issues? You mentioned pain in your legs and feet - can you be more precise as to where they hurt? What kind of shoes are you wearing? You're walking dogs - what kind of ground are you walking on? Pavement? Grass? Sidewalks?

Those of you with Netflix, there is a documentary on Minimalism, entitled appropriately, "Minimalism: a documentary about the important things" - I haven't watched it yet, but apparently it sparked some interest on the topic on another forum I frequent, so I thought I'd mention it here as well.

I need to try making dish day a ritualized, systematic event. It's too easy for me to skip days and end up with a sink that escaped from Jumanji.

Yeah, the bullet journal system should come with a warning and a disclaimer about all the prettiness. I just love the indexing.

Sometimes a horse can be led to water; sometimes the horse has to find it himself.

Lots and lots of self-talk. A couple of tricks that sometimes help get me in motion: 1. If you're tired of starting over, stop quitting. (and other motivational cliches) *Where would I be today, if I'd been consistent last month? Last year? *One step at a time, one rep at a time. 2. Don't confuse emotion with exhaustion. Being excited and motivated helps, certainly. But it is absolutely not required in order to get up and do the needful. *Some folks have called this "negative motivation" or "discipline" or even "habit" - all are true, but I also think of it as mindfulness, or moving meditation. Be aware of the feelings that are telling you that you don't want to go, recognize them as emotions and not legitimate reasons (i.e. a broken leg), and go do the needful. Focus on the activity and let the emotions float by, like clouds in the sky. 3. Don't break the chain. (http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret) 4. Look at pretty pictures. I have bookmarks of fitness models, muscles flexed, exercise GIFs, videos, whatever. *I enjoy lifting weights, even more now that I'm seeing physical transformations, never mind the primal joy of picking up things, moving them around, and putting them down. *The videos and GIFs are a visual reminder of my goals, and get my mind thinking about the activity; I start to visualize myself doing the activity, and the ball starts rolling. 5. Use a log to track workouts. Little victories, similar to "not breaking the chain" - and having a log of your efforts are a tangible reminder of the effort so far.

I know, right? Just the concept of the index and collections is enough to make me a happy (and somewhat more organized) soul.

A couple of blog posts that I found interesting: "9 common pursuits that rob us of happiness" (http://www.becomingminimalist.com/find-happiness/) "A guide to let go of your perfectly good things" (http://www.becomingminimalist.com/letting-go) "What to do when decluttering makes you feel miserable (http://www.becomingminimalist.com/miserable)

How's the bullet journaling coming along?

That's tough. I'd honestly suggest counseling, if it's an option for you two. A 15 year relationship carries a lot of baggage that can be tough to overcome when you need to work on mutual communication skills. Additionally, a neutral third party referee can help break old habits that couples tend to fall into when trying to openly communicate with each other. Good luck!

I do the same thing - do a quick fold of clothing and put it on a shelf. Well, in my case, I use a Rubber Maid 14 gallon tote as an improvised dressing stand; same thing, really. Otherwise I end up with piles, and I can never remember which pile is which.

Which is more intrusive into your life - doing laundry more often, or heaps of clothes? Would you feel better if you had a tidier means of storing the heaps, like a laundry hamper? (eta: I'm not being snarky, I swear - that's the basic question at stake. And these are clothes that you wear, versus sitting in your closet never having seen the light of day.) It's a tough habit to get into, putting things in their proper place - half the time, I don't even have a "proper place" for said stuff.

Honestly, there isn't a lot you can do. Short of an intervention if you think your mom has an actual clinical issue, but even then, trying to get someone to get help if they don't see the problem is an uphill battle. Raincloak had an excellent suggestion about the path of least resistance - discard things on the sly. Work around your mother to keep the peace, as well as do what you need to do. You can try a direct approach, but from your description, through no real fault of your mom's, she's unlikely to accept a rational discussion, or accept your decision about your stuff without some sort of fight.

Yay! And welcome!

Eeeeexcellent. Welcome to the fold.

You might want to do a little reading on kettle bells - you can squeeze a lot of exercise out of one little kettle bell. As a note, I could never commit to using one, for various reasons, but it's versatile enough (and small enough) to optimize your 8x8 space.

Well, as long as the clothes still fit... Hrm. Not as such - most of the decluttering books I've found tend to be written by women; which is not to say they're not *not* for straight, middle-aged men. A little bit of digging turned up a couple of possibilities you might check out (from the library) before investing the coin: https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Walsh/e/B001H6TYNK/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_107?qid=1484028101&sr=8-107 The author, Peter Walsh, has a number of books on organizing, decluttering, and essentially a flavor of minimalism, although none of the blurbs ever use the buzz word. Unstuff Your Life, by Andrew Mellen (well, it's written by a guy) https://www.amazon.com/Unstuff-Your-Life-Completely-Organize/dp/1583333894/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1484027940&sr=8-7&keywords=organizing+your+life

Heh. A ruler and some patience can take care of that. ETA: I routinely use a 5x7 lines notebook from the local Dollar Tree - I break out a ruler to make calendars and whatnot as needed.

Emphasis mine. ^That. A thousand times, that. There are no minimalism police, and nobody is going to whack you on the hand with a ruler and say you're doing it wrong. Minimalism is meant to enhance your life by discarding the needless clutter that negatively impacts your life. But you have to be happy where you live - everything else being equal, you need to be comfortable and content in your home. If you throw out everything you don't strictly need to sustain your life, you might be adhering to the letter of minimalism, but you are ignoring the spirit of the philosophy. So rock the holiday ornaments! As Raincloak said, if bare walls are your thing, great! If you appreciate the joy and beauty that art brings into your life, great! I've seen photos of some "minimalist" rooms - I've seen sterile chambers with more personality. Personally, that would drive me up one of those bare walls.

Actually, that's fairly brilliant. And it reminds me of this desktop wallpaper from PhD comics: