Decluttering - The illusion of Choice
A thorough cleanse of the mind is just as important as that of the physical environment. You might not even realize how much nonsense you carry around in your head and heart alike. it is often a good idea to remove clutter from life to embrace what is truly important, for you would not want the hod soup of life to get cold trying to pick the perfect show on Petflix.
It is past 5 in the evening and Mehak is at her desk. Done for the day, but the school like policies of her workplace prevent her from leaving before her shift time ends. Not much can be done, as work requirements have been done before hand, no rules apply if someone comes in early or works faster. Efficiency and productivity cannot be achieved by forcing ungodly hours, because a 9-5 is never just a 9-5 in India.
Employers find ways to drag the worker in at much earlier hours on account of team meetings and daily sessions, so it instead becomes an 8-6 minus the commute time. For irrespective of the working hours clocked in, everyone has to stay back till the clock strikes 5:30. And it is never 5:30, the HR team would make sure to announce all celebrations or training sessions at 5 and ensure everyone stays back till 6-6:30 just to force them to see, the low effort celebration or farewell ceremony they conjured at the 11th hour. It was an annoying ordeal which derailed the employee commute pushing it further into the peak traffic hours and made going home difficult. No body liked staying back the extra hour, and nothing much could be said, after all, who would bell the cat?
Doomscrolling in her last leg of workshift for the day, Mehek found herself learning about various environmental issues and the many things a common man can do to save energy. This was her research for the upcoming CSR activity plan which she knew her manager was going to dump on her anyway.
*Empty Recycle Bin* Was the video title. Here a former techie turned environmental entrepreneur was sharing tips on sustainable living in the digital age.
"Chalo madam bag pack karlo, Chhutti hone wali hai" Richa announced to Mehek. Richa the chirpy workmate who followed timelines like a good schoolgirl and avoided drama like the plague. She had worked at enough Indian companies to know how bad the system was, and how belling the cat was nothing more than an invitation to trouble. Appeasing the management was a much better decision in the best interest of keeping employment intact.
"Time se aao, time se jao. Baki chahey bhaad mei jao" Simple as that bruh ! Richa smirked as she packed up her belongings from her table and piled them neatly in her backpack.
"Richa did you see this tech influence? He talks about how overflowing mailboxes also contribute to global warming. Cool stuff yaar" Mehek shared the link as she picked up her bags to leave for the day.
"In short everyone is going to guilt trip the common man for thier existence but no one will question corporate giants why they send these bulk mails, why they pollute or why the excess of evrything, everywhere?" Richa exclaimed and realizing she had gone overboard like Mehek usually did in excitement, she recomposed herself.
Drawing a deep breath she began again, "What I am trying to say is, common man is already dealing with enough. Half the issues we face are there because of giant corporates. I am not blaming, just trying to make a point, cuz my paycheck at month end too comes from a giant corporation and I am glad for the resources" Richa looked around as the two stepped in the elevator.
"Fair point, but for a thought starter, we could unsubscribe, and maybe remove clutter. If not for the world at large, maybe to just declutter our micro environment. A bit of Mary Kondo to our digital space maybe?" Mehek Shrugged, she found the silver lining maybe.
Plus Mary Kondo was a name everyone had become familiar with owing to the declutter videos this Japanese consultant had carved for herself on a global scale.
Both the ladies waved each other goodbye as they walked to their respective vehicles.
Back home, sitting on her bed, Richa could not help but think of what Mehek had said earlier. Opening up her personal laptop, she found old pictures of exes she did not wish to remember anymore. Old documens that held no value and old data that she no longer needed. All of these files were taking up unnecessary space on her system and making it slow, deleting them actually helped her device function better. Setting aside her laptop, she left Mehek a text, and went to sleep.
*Text from Richa*
Mehek was too busy to read the text, as she frantically went through page after page of unread emails in her inbox and updates sections. Over 10,000 unread emails since the first time he signed up for a mailing ID on GMAIL, the popular mail provider. There were update mails staring back at her from as long ago as when she was a teen. Emails from Internship Platforms, Job Portals, Dating platforms and later Matrimonial Platforms. So many email, with more than 70% being useless for she was no longer active on more than half of those. Unsubscribing to updates from obsolete sites was her first step, followed by slecting grouped emails and deleting in bulk. Last step came to delete spam folder and empty recycle bins. Notes and scanned files of her creative writing submissions to the schools she went to were also there, which were now sitting with her in publsiehd copies somewhere in her parent's house in a box full of childhood memorabilia.
Scanning through thousand of notifications around job portals and internship sites, dating platforms & matrimonial sites, a concurrent theme played in her head. The illusion of too many. She had left most of these portals, for the very reason of overwhelm. How they all showed a candidate how in demand their skills were, how liked they are as people and how overwhelmingly they are desired.
Reality was, Mehek and her loathing for the restrictive framework of her work environment which wanted her creativity confined in a strict 9-5:30 schedule with a limit of where she sits, how she dresses and even whom she speaks to or chooses not to. It was worse than school.
As for the dating platforms, she had kissed her fair share of frogs with no prince in sight, and the one that came close was a mere chance encounter while on vacation. So yes, all in all it was all an illusion, and deleting these 9,954 mails helped her conclude that she did need to declutter and Mary Kondo her digital space for clarity. The clarity was not in her mail box or computer system as it was for Richa, but rather the humbling of her heart to the harsh reality of the Illusions that we are fed to as individuals each day.
*Message from Richa* she finally saw the notification.
“Maybe it does help to clear up the digital space too, thanks for sharing.”
Richa had also reacted with a thumbs up emoji to Mehek's text where she had shared the link to the Video the two had discussed on the way out from work.
So if today you feel, you found someone you like a bit or find interesting, pursue them with all your heart. Does not matter if you have 3500 matches on Fumble or Binder. Those are merely options, standing in your path as Illusions, in which half may even turn out to be good for nothing bots that the platforms use to keep you paying with your money or time.
What is meant for you is right ahead, beyond that veil of options. A firm choice needs to be made and it can only be made by you, to stick to your decision and make a new turn in life. Stand your ground and
not be swayed by the illusion of your choices.
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