tbcat:

earlgraytay:

tosety:

illogical-bullshit:

wishful-thinkment:

tinygayrobin:

thedemonsurfer:

bringsyouwings:

mysticorset:

the-original-bravo:

theblacklittlemermaid:

daughterofdiaspora:

my mom taught me the therapeutic power of cleaning. open all the windows. throw out the old. wipe down the entire house. burn some incense. roast some coffee. then rest. that way the tears from last night don’t feel as heavy. 

She just wanted you to clean the house

No it’s actually been studied and proven that for people with anxiety and depression that it’s really good for us it gives us a sense of control, setting, and being well grounded. It allows to make a new place out of the old and is really relaxing

It is such a catch-22, that cleaning when you are depressed (and likely less able to gather the executive functioning to do so) also alleviates it. After having a good clean, I always feel more in control and less stressed. It’s the getting started that is the hardest part. The good news is, even a tiny bit of cleaning has a positive effect, so start with what you can manage.

Even if you just clean up the immediate area around you, even if you clean a little at a time or spaced out over days, you’ll feel lighter.

This!!

Even if all you can do is put three dishes in the dishwasher, or move the dirty laundry pile to outside the laundry door, or throw out that box of leftovers that have been sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks

it counts.

My therapy professor always gets his patients to just wipe the bathroom mirror when they’re feeling that way. Just the mirror, nothing more. But then by the time his patients are done with the mirror, most of them report “well, I was already in the bathroom, so I did the sink and tub too.” And before they know it, they’ve cleaned an entire bathroom.

My therapist once told me that, every day, I should try and do at least one thing that I either enjoyed, or gave me a sense of mastery. And honestly, the enjoyment thing can kind of seem overrated, especially when you feel like crap, but the mastery thing? Doing laundry or taking out the trash or whatever else I can bring myself to accomplish?

Holy shit, man… it’s /good/

This stuff saved my ass back when I had depression. Vacuuming the room, spraying some febreze shit and wiping some countertops works wonders.

tiny baby steps are helpful

do what you can, forgive yourself for what you can’t, and challenge yourself to do better tomorrow (and it’s okay to fail at this; just try again the next tomorrow)

Another thing to note: things that you wouldn’t normally count as ‘cleaning’ (because they’re ‘fun’ and therefore not ‘work’) totally count for this. 

• Organizing all your books? Counts. 
• Hanging up your clothes and organizing them into cute outfits? Counts.
• Putting all your loose-leaf tea into the cute little jars you bought but haven’t filled up? Counts. 
• Hanging up that cool art print you’ve had for ages that’s been lying at the bottom of a pile? Counts. 
• Sorting your trading cards, dressing your doll collection, taking time with whatever you enjoy to hoard? Counts. 
• Lighting incense or a scented candle? Counts. 
• Putting goofy hats on your decorative skull collection? Counts. (Wait, you mean you don’t have a decorative skull collection? It’s just me? Damn.)

The purpose of cleaning-while-depressed isn’t really about keeping things clean- unless you are coping really well or have a maid, you are not going to keep your house Martha Stewart Clean while depressed. It’s about giving you that sense of mastery and helping you feel like you have control over your space.

@arashi-of-ota said (in a post I can’t find now) that dealing with serious mental health shit is like living in a crappy tenement in a slum where your house is always breaking down. You’re never going to be 100% Out, you’re never going to live in a Big Fancy House like the ones you see on TV, there’s some asshole leaving broken washing machines and cars on cinder blocks in the front yard, and your flat is falling down and filled with 99 bags of garbage. 

But taking care of even one bag of garbage- literally OR metaphorically- helps you take back your space.

clean house clean mind