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EPISODE 31 | Clean Up the Chaos: How to Declutter Your Thoughts and Refocus

Episode 31: Clean Up the Chaos: How to Declutter Your Thoughts and Refocus

Have you ever looked at your to-do list and felt like you were about to scale Mount Everest — in flip flops? 

On this episode of Get It Together, Weirdo, host and get-your-shit-together coach Sarah Bowser dives into her messy but totally relatable process for decluttering her mind. She explores how clearing your physical space, experimentation, and small resets can help our delightfully distracted brains find clarity and calm amongst the chaos.

Decluttering isn’t about perfection or productivity. It’s about creating mental breathing room, experimenting your way out of burnout, and reconnecting with what truly matters. By the end of the episode, you’ll see how one tidy drawer, one brain dump, or one weird, nerdy hobby can be a game-changer for your mental load.

Read the full transcript below, or get the PDF version of the transcript here.

Prefer to read as a blog post? Click here.

What you’ll learn in this episode

  • How physical clutter mirrors your mental clutter, and why clearing a small space can spark major mental relief
  • A simple “reset” strategy to calm your chaotic brain without overhauling your entire life
  • How brain dumping (aka stream-of-consciousness journaling) helps you close all those mental browser tabs
  • Why experimenting with new hobbies and weird curiosities can help you reset and recharge
  • The importance of identifying your core values to stop shuffling chaos around and focus on what actually matters

Resources mentioned in this episode

  • Journal prompt lists and printable PDFs (easily found by searching “Journal prompts for anxious overthinkers”)
  • Sarah’s Monday coworking sessions

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“Have you ever looked at your to-do list and felt like you were about to scale Mount Everest — in flip flops?”

“Little actions create a big mental shift. Try it. Clear one thing and see how your brain responds.”

“You can declutter all day long, but if you’re not clear on what really matters to you, you’re just gonna be shuffling the chaos around.”

“Do something that isn’t productive, something that feels like you’re giving your brain a playground instead of a checklist.”

“You’re not broken, my friend. You’re just living in a world that wasn’t built for your brain. So let’s build our own damn world, one decluttered thought at a time.”

Transcript

Welcome to Get It Together Weirdo, the podcast where we dive into ways to help you figure out how you can tackle your to dos, keep track of your side quests, and manage your time in a way that works for your brain so you can focus on nerding out on the things that make you do a happy dance. I’m Sarah Bowser, your Get your shit together coach and resident weirdo here to guide you on your journey. So let’s get it Together Weirdo.

Hey there my wonderfully weird friend. Welcome back to another episode of Get It Together Weirdo where we embrace the chaos, throw out the guilt, and figure out how to get our shit together in a way that actually works for our delightfully distracted brains. Have you ever looked at your to do list and felt like you were about to scale Mount Everest in flip flops? Yeah, same. Most of us are juggling so many mental tabs that it’s a damn miracle our brains haven’t given us the spinning rainbow wheel of Death like we’re an old ass MacBook from 2008.

Believe it or not, though, there is a reset button. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t require a 45-step morning routine or a juice cleanse, or burning everything in your life to the ground and starting over. You can start resetting your brain with something as simple and weirdly satisfying as just clearing out that junk drawer in your kitchen or desk. Seriously? That drawer that’s full of expired coupons, partly burned birthday candles, three dead pens, and exactly one AA battery that may or may not still work? Yeah, that one.

Your physical space needs a good old tidy up every now and again, and kicking things off with some physical tidying can benefit your mental tidying up as well. So let me tell you something weirdly true about me. I love decluttering until I fall into a nostalgic time warp because I found a handwritten note from sophomore year biology and now I’m laugh-crying over the random holidays my best friend and I would come up with. Penguin Day, anyone? But outside of that very specific risk, physical decluttering is one of the few things that helps me shut off the constant swirl of thoughts in my brain.

I can clearly correlate the messiness of my space with the messiness happening in my head. But when I finally get my executive dysfunction to cooperate long enough to clear out a space, I mean, there’s something almost meditative about organizing that drawer, or clearing off the kitchen counter, or finally throwing out the mountain of receipts hiding in my purse like some kind of paper hoarder gremlin. It’s one of the few times my brain actually quiets down, even if just for a bit. And when that happens, I feel like I can breathe again.

So today we’re going to talk about how to declutter your mind using a mix of physical resets, journaling hacks, experimenting with weird new hobbies, and tapping into what truly matters to you. So let’s do this.

First things first, let’s talk about the magic of a reset. I don’t mean a complete life overhaul. Tossing your planner out the window in a fit of rage. Though if you’ve done that recently, I totally get it. I’m talking about resetting both your physical and mental spaces in a way that feels like a clean slate. A new save file, a post-boss fight breather.

Like I mentioned about my own brain, our physical space is often a reflection of what’s happening in our minds. If your kitchen counter looks like a dumpster fire and your nightstand has turned into a second junk drawer, chances are your brain’s running on fumes. But when we clear a tiny bit of space physically, it often gives us just enough mental breathing room to feel like, okay, maybe I don’t have to burn everything down and move to the Shire. Even if it’s just clearing one corner of your desk, one square foot of your kitchen counter, the floor of your car – ’cause don’t lie, I know it’s a mess in there. And no judgment from me though, ’cause mine’s the same.

Little actions create a big mental shift. Try it. Clear one thing and see how your brain responds.

So we’ve cleared a space. Now what? It’s time to dump our brain out like an overstuffed duffel bag. I love brain dumping. It’s stream of consciousness writing. No grammar, no filter, no judgment. Just word vomit on the page. Think of it as opening all your mental browser tabs and finally hitting close all. And yes, sometimes this is super easy. Like your brain’s like woo hoo, freedom! And it all pours out. Other times, your brain’s like a grumpy cat refusing to come out from under the couch.

If you’re stuck, here’s a trick I use. Start writing literally anything. Song lyrics, movie quotes, Eddie Izzard stand-up bits, Monty Python’s spam sketch, whatever it takes to shake the self-consciousness out of your head and just start writing. Once you get a few lines in, things start flowing. Trust me.

And if free writing sounds like pulling teeth, you can use journal prompts. There are prompt books, blogs, printable PDFs, even Instagram carousels full of them. You can literally Google journal prompts for anxious overthinkers and get a year’s worth of material. Try making it a habit. Five minutes in the morning, three minutes before bed. Hell, a voice-to-text journal while you brush your teeth, if that’s your vibe. Might sound weird, but hey, could work. Give your brain a regular space to just let the mess out.

Now we’re going to shake it up a little. Because sometimes decluttering your brain isn’t about getting stuff out. It’s about putting something new in. Something that sparks a little joy, curiosity, and just makes your brain go, ooh, shiny. And no, I’m not telling you to collect another hobby that you’ll abandon in two weeks. Hello, half-knitted blanket from 2018. I still see you.

I’m talking about experimentation. Try reading a book from a genre you never read. Watch a documentary about mushrooms. Doodle a dragon, finger paint with your kids. Make a playlist that sounds like the vibe of a hobbit on vacation. Do something that isn’t productive. Something that feels like you’re giving your brain a playground instead of a checklist.

When we explore weird little curiosities, we stretch our perspective. We break out of that constant loop of ugh, I should be doing this into ooh, this is kind of fun. You don’t have to stick with this hobby after you try it out if you don’t want to. We’re just making our brains do something new to stop overthinking and just clear out some of the gunk. Let your brain have some damn fun. It’s allowed.

Here’s the big one though. You can declutter all day long. Your desk, your brain, your calendar. But if you’re not clear on what really matters to you, you’re just going to be shuffling the chaos around. Getting clear on your core values is like having a mental compass. It’s what helps you know, Hey, this thing I’ve been obsessing about for the past 45 minutes? Not actually a priority. Your values help filter the noise.

So how do you find your values? Ask yourself, when do I feel most like me? What drains me versus what lights me up? What would I fight for on a Tuesday at 2pm with no coffee in my system? You can also use core values exercises. Make a list. Circle your top five. Journal about them. See what comes up again and again. When you know your values, you start to see what can be cleared out – the people pleasing, the perfectionism, the distractions. And you get to see what gets to stay.

So here’s what I want you to do today, okay? Set a timer for 10 minutes. Open a journal, a Google Doc, your notes app, the back of a receipt, whatever works. And just write. Dump your thoughts. Scribble, write, ramble, complain about your inbox, quote a movie. Just get it out. And then take a breath. Look at the chaos on the page. That’s you showing up for yourself. You don’t have to fix everything today. You can start one drawer, one sentence, one silly doodle at a time.

If today’s episode helped you feel even a little more clear or calm, I’d love to hear about it. Come hang out with me on Instagram at thatweirdnerdymom, or join us for our Monday co-working sessions where we get shit done, share weird tangents, and absolutely refuse to pretend that we’ve got our lives 100% together.

You’re not broken, my friend. You’re just living in a world that wasn’t built for your brain. So let’s build our own damn world, one decluttered thought at a time.

Until next time, my loves. Bring out your weird.

Thanks so much for listening today. You can find complete show notes, links to resources mentioned, as well as a link to our co-working community on our website getittogetherweirdo.com. Be sure to leave a rating or review and check me out on Instagram @getittogetherweirdo. Feel free to shoot me a DM. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, my wonderful weirdo. You’ve got this. Bring out your weird.

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