As I am sure you are aware there is a global pandemic occurring, which has taken its toll on all of our daily life and routine. Many of us are now working from home or are not working at all at the moment due to the crisis. Here in England we are limited to having one form of outdoor activity and only making trips outside if they are necessary. This means the rest of the time we are in ‘isolation.’ We are stuck in our homes and many of us have been struggling with this. I have seen many a video of ‘I’m bored in the house…’.
I thought it was important to do this post because this morning I woke up and felt like I needed to shift my energy and focus. The past few days I have felt sluggish, lethargic and moody. My energy was all over the place and I couldn’t find my normal positive vibe.
I have been sitting in my room so much more than I normally do and looking around it was messy, cobwebs were hanging from the ceiling and clothes all over the place. Then it dawned upon me, this is a representation of how I am feeling mentally. There is a saying “tidy house, tidy mind’, and boy were they right.
I have spent the whole day (with the help of my amazing mum) deep cleaning my room, we mopped the floors, hoovered – Lincoln, my dog, had moulted everywhere so that was like a wild western film with tumbleweed flying around everywhere. We cleaned my windows, dusted the sides and reorganised my wardrobe – teamwork makes the dream work!
Finally, after finishing and showering I am sat here writing this blog post, and I can tell you with confidence that my mind already feels clearer. The room has a lighter feel to it and all that mess has been reorganised and put in its place. I feel happier and a shift in my conscious emotional state. But why?
Psychology studies have shown that people who described their living spaces as ‘cluttered’ or ‘messy’ were more likely to show traits of depression and feel fatigued, rather than those who described it as ‘restful and tidy’. Cluttered households have also been found to impact on sleep quality, attention to focus on tasks and physical wellbeing*.
My new clean and tidy room! 😄
So… what can you do? (I would recommend putting some of your favourite music on for motivation and then follow these steps below).
- Declutter – this is a great opportunity to reassess what you do and don’t use – if it isn’t something that you need or use regularly enough to justify having it then donate to charity or bin it – let go of the emotional attachment.
- Clean up – Whether, like me, it is just a room or the whole house it is time for a good old fashioned spring clean, let go of the winter gloom and spring into action with the later sunsets and longer days.
- Rebalance – Once you have decluttered and cleaned up – open the windows and let the fresh air come in, perhaps you have a nice candle to burn or an incense stick to give a fresh fragrance back into the room or add a new plant in to bring fresh oxygen in.
- Enjoy it – Take a moment to appreciate all the hard work you have done to make your place feel lighter and tidier – can you show friends or family members your great efforts? Can you feel the difference from when you started to when you finished?
This isolation period may have forced us to stay at home, but it has allowed us to also dive deeper into reflecting on what our own home looks like, which is a reflection on how we may feel emotionally.
I’d love to know how you feel after your spring clean. Please comment below and let’s build a community of sharing the positives that we can take away from staying at home.
Lots of love and hugs,
Becca x
*for more information and the source of some of the studies see – Psychology Today
Your home is a living space, not a storage space – Miss Minimalist
Best Life With Becca 