Fine, it may sound over the top but they were slowly killing my spirit and taking my health with it.

One day some years ago, I snapped at a family member, it was the wake-up call telling me that I was no longer my happy self. The stress of dealing with details from work and from taking care of people and things had got to me.

Fixing Big Things Is Not Enough

Luckly, even though I was struggling, I had enough energy left to fight back hard. I changed how I work, Konmari-cleaned my room, and did my best not to push myself too hard. Still, I was tired, irritable, extremely indecisive, plus, feeling stuck, alone, and helpless. All signs pointed to depression.

Hunting Down My Inner Energy Vampire

If fixing big things didn’t finished the job, what else was draining my energy and joy?

Then I remembered why Konmari method works. The process helped me remove the noises in my environment and inefficiency in my everyday tasks. When I was done, not only I ended up with a space I want, I am saving time, energy, and grief every time I reach for something I need.

Small Annoyances = Noises of Life

Once I realized this, I observed how I move through the day, a major pattern emerged. I was constantly stopping to clear my nose and throat, an issue I had lived with for a long time. Though the respiratory congestion was never severe enough to see a doctor, once I noticed that I could not un-see how it consumed my life.

Since then I have been working to cure it and I will be sharing my experiences in future posts. In the process, I am also solving other little things that annoy me, something simple like replacing heavy pans with lighter ones for easy cleaning and handling.

Must Small Annoyances Die?

Living with small annoyances is like being in the stop-and-go traffic.

• It demands your constant attention (induces fatigue).
• It is a danger to your life (brings on road rage, increases chance of accidents).
• If you do it everyday then it turns into a chronic, sometimes permanent, mental and physical illnesses.

So yes, be like the Dalek with tiny irritations,

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!