Mess Causes Stress

I’m sure you’ve heard the adage that a clouded home/office/whatever leads to a clouded mind. Oh my, this is so true! There’s evidence supporting it! When multiple visual stimuli are competing for your attention, you have a harder time narrowing your focus to just one of them. Not to mention that voice in your head that nags you about it! This all goes back to discussions of multitasking. Your brain isn’t built for it. And, subconsciously, that is what you are asking when your trying to focus through the mess. This is amplified when you work from home. When your house is cluttered and you escape to the office, it’s easier to leave the mess behind (especially if your office is neat!)

Many of you have probably experienced the “sticky cheese in the suitcase” – a reference to Everyone Loves Raymond. In the “Baggage” episode, Ray and Debra fight for 3-weeks on who will put away the suitcase. It sits on the stairs with no one moving it. Ray even tries to up the game by putting stinky cheese in the suitcase, forcing the issue. Both believe it’s the other’s responsibility to pick it up, and it just festers. Surely you’ve had a similar situation – you’re cooked dinner and your partner needs to do the dishes. They didn’t. So now you let them pile up to prove your point. Or the laundry. Or the whatever. It’s a passive aggressive way to deal with your irritation.

First off, that really doesn’t work. You just have a mess and a messy relationship. But that’s worse now that you work at home! Your partner, child, whoever, probably gets to leave that mess behind while you stare at it all day. It’s cluttering up your mind with its mere presence, let alone the constant reminder of whatever fight you’ve dreamed up. This won’t end well.

It may be that you are the Messy Marvin. No one to blame but yourself. And that can also weigh on your psyche. You may want to be better. It may be a sign of depression or other deep rooted issues. It may just be laziness! Whatever is creating that mess will eventually mess up your ability to be your best at work. Everyone’s tolerance for clutter is different – but we all can reach that tipping point.

I do. Heck, I did last week! I actually had to take a personal day because of brain was a pile of goo. This was primarily due to cranking a bunch of work out and extra hours and overall exhaustion. But at the same time, this table area in my office that has had the same amount of stuff on it for months suddenly became too much. While I was working on this really ‘heady’ material, I found myself staring at the table and its clutter was so irritating! It bothered me every day, though for months I hadn’t noticed. So, when I was finally done with my work and my brain gave up, I took a day to clean up. It’s so nice and straight now!

Clutter can cause so much damage. It increases the stress hormone cortisol and your overall stress levels. It overwhelms your brain and you resort to coping mechanisms, such as overeating, to block the noise. It creates a health risk with odors, dust, and gross things you don’t want around. It can even be a safety concern, such as a tripping hazard or sharp object. The stinky cheese can impact your relationships. And overall, it decreases your productivity.

Now, multiply that exponentially when you work at home and never escape it. Kinda makes you want to listen to your mother and go clean your room, doesn’t it?