De-Cluttering Life: Letting Go of Addictions

This weekend was our semi-annual Stake Conference* for the Albuquerque East stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormon church). One of my favorite talks given this weekend was from our Stake President (the church leader who presides over the various congregations in a geographical area).

President Remund spoke about de-cluttering our lives. Just as with de-cluttering a house, there are three questions to ask when de-cluttering:

1. Why am I keeping this?

2. How often do I use it?

3. Where does it belong?

President Remund advised us to consider the activities that take up our time in light of these questions. He pointed out that, even "good" things (sports, music, computer, etc.) can turn into addictions, when we begin to let the less-meaningful activities take the place of more-meaningful pursuits. (I imagine this is possibly the reasoning behind the season of Lent, where people give up something for 40 days. It sounds like a good practice for keeping priorities straight.)

I realized that I was slipping into obsessive, addictive behavior with my writing with my latest novel. I've always told my children that they are my top priority, and if they need "mommy time" when I'm writing, they're welcome to interrupt me for a chat. But this week, I found myself getting irritated and annoyed every time they came to bother me. So in light of President Remund's talk, I decided to take a full break from my computer yesterday and spend my Sabbath Day with my family instead. The Lord gave us a weekly day of rest for a reason. I feel much more ready to jump back into revisions now.

*Stake Conference is different from General Conference, which we also have twice a year. For General Conference, the entire, world-wide church gathers together (via satellite broadcast) on the first weekends of April and October to hear counsel from our Prophet and Apostles and other general church leaders. For Stake Conference, the congregations (wards) within a smaller geographical area gather together on a set weekend twice yearly to hear our local leaders, as well as at least one General Authority (usually an Apostle or Area Authority) give us instruction specific to issues we face in our area.