Cleaning Reduces Stress

My anxiety level is inversely proportional to the level of order and organization in my home.

Before you “oooh and aaah”, please know that this is NOT my linen closet. It is a beautifully, googled image of a closet that sparks joy in my heart! My linen closet is very nice, neat and orderly, though it lacks the uniform baskets and sushi-rolled blankets. I am extremely happy with my personally edited space.

So why write about order and organization while showing an image of someone else’s space? Because I can!

The real meat of today’s post is that I was working on a stressful activity, and needed to introduce a bit of calm into my life. Rather than crying, screaming, drinking or sitting down on myself, I chose sorting, purging and organizing. Not only did I give myself permission to exhale, but I received the bonus of a cleaned closet as well!

While I do not need stress to induce my cleaning routine, I do feel better in the cleaned environment. There is something about physically sorting and purging items that translates to the mental and emotional stress reduction. (I am sure there are some forms of control issues involved in this revelation!)

As I continue to flow through this COVID-caused chaos, there is only so much cleaning I can do. I am going to need some new tips to tame the stress beast. So, help this sister out. Let me know how you creatively handle your storms.