Clean House = Sanity!

I would love to be more like this woman.
She's beautiful, cheerful, and very productive.

It amazes me how closely related the cleanliness of my house is to the state of my mental health. When my house starts to get cluttered, disorganized, or dirty, I can actually feel myself becoming depressed, anxious, and unable to cope with things. It's strange.

Last week I realized that my recent mental "slump" was being exacerbated by the fact that I had been slacking on my house cleaning. The layer of crumbs on the kitchen counter was taunting me. The dust bunnies in the corner of the living room were starting to look vicious. I found myself avoiding the bathrooms because the toothpaste was too upsetting. It was sad...

Thankfully and somewhat miraculously the cleaning bug bit me and I scrubbed the house from top to bottom over a two day span. Sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, picking up... everything. And then the place was spotless. Ahhh... such a relief!!!

I literally felt my stress draining away while I was sitting down afterwards admiring my handiwork. My cloud of gloom was lifting. I was suddenly in a better mood. My brain felt more orderly and organized. (Which only makes sense... If all your eyes see is a cluttered mess, then it is only logical that your mind would be a cluttered mess as well. Just my theory.) And when I woke up the next lovely morning, I woke up to a clean house! It feels great to start your day on an optimistic and productive note.

Note to self: Keep up with your cleaning schedule... it's worth it! It is so much easier to only have a couple of tasks per day. So much easier!

And P.S. I realize I'm a nutcase. But imagine what a lunatic I would be if my house were dirty all the time. I shudder to think of it...