Today I spent much of this snowy Sunday cleaning my house. I am not a big fan of housework. I have done it for many years and I am pretty good at it but I do not enjoy it. There was a lot to do today because I worked long hours this week. My kitchen needed to be reassembled because it was all torn up getting freshly painted, and my bathroom was its own dust covered, natural disaster.
My home is generally clean most of the time, thanks to my mother. She trained me as a child to make my bed, dust (once in a while), clean the dishes, scrub bathrooms, and vacuum up the pet hair. In fact, she also taught me that you really need to clean your house right before you host company. You know when you hustle about the house before visitors arrive just to make sure that everyone knows that you are a clean person. We haven’t had to do that recently, but I will be ready when we are able to host company again — thanks Mom!
Keeping a clean home and work space is so important to how we feel. As soon as I was done cleaning my kitchen and bathroom, I felt immediately more in control and at peace. Even though I don’t like to clean, I love the peaceful feeling that comes with having an organized and clean area in which to live and work.
Researchers at Princeton University found that clutter makes it more difficult for people to focus on a specific task. A study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that women were more fatigued and depressed if they described their homes as cluttered. Another study showed that people who make their bed each morning are 19 percent more likely to report getting a good night’s sleep.
How do you start if you hate cleaning like I do?
Start small or constrain. We often live with clutter because a project seems overwhelming and time consuming. We have so little time, right? When I feel myself avoiding a project I remind myself that I do not have to tackle it all in one day. If I only have an hour, I can choose to work for one hour. (Even 15 or 30 minutes will work) I set my timer and give myself a constrained amount of time to organize. If I totally focus for 30 minutes or an hour I will always get more done than I originally planned. Breaking an overwhelming task into constrained sessions makes completion feel less impossible.
If you are feeling chaotic this week, try to clean just a little. Make your bed, organize your sock drawer, put your shoes away, throw out one journal, or wipe that layer of dust off your desk. Any little thing that you can do to make your life cleaner and more organized will improve your outlook. You will feel more in control of your busy life.
Also, cut yourself a little slack when you see the dust. It is there to remind you that you are human — It can always be wiped away.
Dr. Julie Cappel
No comments:
Post a Comment