Cleaning When Depressed - How to Clean Your Messy House

Why do

depressed

people find it so difficult to

clean

? That's a great question and we're going to talk about that today. Hi, I'm Angela Brown and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you can ask a question about

house

clean

ing and I'll help you find an answer. HouseCleaning360.com brings us today's show and there are a lot of professionals who service the home. So if you're feeling down and can't make a dent in the

cleaning

your

self, you can find someone who can help you at HouseCleaning360.com. There's everyone, from carpet cleaners to window cleaners, professional organizers, there's junk. and hoarding removal, there are

house

cleaners, there are plenty of people appointed to help you get

your

place back to a suitable standard of living.

HouseCleaning360.com Alright, let's move on to today's show, which is from a homeowner who wants to know why it's so hard to clean

when

you're

depressed

. Well, that's a great question because

when

you're depressed, a lot of other things happen and cleaning the house isn't a priority. The priorities are eating, exercising and showering. And it's very difficult for a really depressed person to even get out of bed in the morning. When you get out of bed in the morning, you feel like you just got hit by a Mack truck, so cleaning your house isn't even on the radar.

That's one of the reasons it's so hard to clean when you're depressed. Okay, what happens to a depressed person is that things slide. When you take off your clothes, you don't feel like putting them away, so they stay on the floor, on the back of a chair, or on the back of a sofa. And they continue to accumulate. Along with hoarding, there's a lot of guilt associated with that because you know you have to pick up after yourself and you know you have to put things away. Then you feel guilty because "Oh, I don't feel like doing it," and then you feel bad.

And with feeling bad, that creates more depression. And so it's kind of a vicious cycle that feeds on itself. Then, along with the things that are left, there are also other things that are neglected. So instead of scrubbing the bottom of your tubs and shower pan when you're done showering, it's easy to neglect it until it becomes overwhelming and just plain dirty. If things are dirty, it doesn't inspire you to go take a shower because you walk in there and there's mold growing around the bottom of the shower pan or tub. And then there is no inspiration because you don't feel clean when you are in there.

And then other stuff builds up in the bathroom and you have leftover shampoo bottles and hairspray bottles and stuff scattered around and there's no energy to try to clean that stuff up. So it's very difficult to be depressed, but it's also very difficult to live everyday life. So one of the things I would recommend if you're having trouble cleaning your house because you're depressed, number one, don't worry about cleaning the house right now. Cleaning the entire house right now is going to be a daunting task and it will only get worse if you start untangling things and not putting them away.

It will only feed the guilt and frustration you already have. So my suggestion to you is this: you need to take care of yourself first. You can't take care of your home, you can't take care of your family until you can take care of yourself first. So if you have a hard time cleaning, forget about cleaning for a minute. Get out of bed, put on a pair of shoes, get out the door and take a brisk walk. It's going to be one of the hardest things you do because you don't feel like it. But once you get out and start walking, and I'm not talking about strolling down the road, I'm talking about a brisk walk.

If you go out and start taking a brisk walk, that will activate a lot of neurons in your brain and get oxygen flowing through your blood and help you breathe better and make you stronger. -trust. When you exercise you feel better because you release endorphins. It is a natural drug, it costs nothing and going for a walk is totally free. So my recommendation to you is to first get out and go for a walk. When you get back from your walk, before you shower, do a little homework. A small task like washing the dishes. That's all.

Don't clean the entire kitchen. Don't save all the food. Don't worry about checking the closets. Don't try to do everything at once, do a small task. That's all. Go for a walk and do a little homework. Once you have cleaned the dishes, now the goal is to maintain them. That's all. Just a small responsibility, washing the dishes. And so at every meal, wash the dishes, that's all. It is easy. The rest of your house may be chaotic for a minute, that's okay. The important thing is that we take care of you and you do a small task.

If you feel better and the time will pass by continuing to exercise and take a brisk walk every day, you may come back and feel like doing two things. And it may take a couple of weeks to get to this point. It's going to be a slow progression. But when you get to the point where you feel like doing something else, add one more small task to your plate. And this could be when you take off your clothes, instead of putting them on the floor, even if you trip over your clothes and there's stuff all over the floor, take these clothes that you just took off and hang them up or put them down. in the basket.

Make a point to do one small thing in addition to what you're already doing. And now it could be the clothes. So when you take off your clothes now, the clothes you're wearing go into the hamper or hang up. And like I say, there may be things scattered everywhere, don't worry about those things right now. We're going to wash the dishes and we're going to hang up the clothes after you wear them. And so, if we do small tasks, we can build until we do more and more. There may come a time when you decide you want to hire someone to help you.

The problem is that most people who are depressed don't hire house cleaners for this reason. There is a lot of guilt associated with having someone else come into your house and see how you live. And so, because of embarrassment, frustration and anxiety, some people call the house cleaners and then cancel the call of the house cleaner before he arrives because they are very embarrassed and very afraid. I don't know why, but in my experience over the last 30 years, my experience is a lot of depression and this frustration and shame comes from one of two things. He comes from a home where the parents were very orderly.

They were super, super, super tidy and demanded that the rooms were always clean and that nothing was ever out of place. And that's why it's almost a rebellion against parents. As adults, these kids have grown up and say, "I'm not cleaning my space." And because their place has become busy or cluttered, then they become frustrated and depressed and, as I say, it's a self-feeding cycle. The other, ironically, comes from the church crowds. There are people who grow up in church, they go to church every Sunday of their lives and I'm not criticizing religion, but there is a thread of "I'm not worthy" and I don't know where it comes from. but it is very common in the church organization group.

So people who grew up in the church or maybe their parents were ministers or were very involved in the church, what happens is they go to church every Sunday and they hear that they are sinners and that they need to repent and that they are not worthy. . and they are worthy of all these things and they internalize it. And then they come home and think, "Well, I'm not worthy of having a clean house. I'm not worthy of having a beautiful house. I'm not worthy of cleaning up after myself." They carry all this shame and guilt. It really has nothing to do with it.

It could be a broken tape they gave you when you were a little kid or even when you sit listening in church services Sunday after Sunday that you are not worthy. Well, the good news is, and I'm here to give it to you, that you are, in fact, worthy. If you are on this planet, someone created you and you are worthy of being here. Now, if you take a little boy and the little boy is in his crib and he's crying. If you're a parent, you think, "Oh, hey, my kid is crying." And then you go and feed the child.

And then when the kid soils his diaper, he stands up and cries or whatever, you go and change his diaper. The child doesn't say, "Oh, wait dad, I'm not worthy. You know, he waits until I get my life in order and then you can feed me and change me." That's weird, right? It doesn't happen that way, even a small child is worthy of love and attention and you know, a clean house, a clean space, clean diapers, food and all that stuff. Even a small child, so as an adult with all these skills and information that you have, with all the resources that we have been given, you are worthy and you deserve a clean place to stay.

And so, if you are in a state of depression because you feel bad, that is an illness that needs to be treated. Regardless of how you approach it, there are a variety of different ways, there are a variety of different books, there are podcasts, there are things you can do. The first thing I would ask you to do is leave the house and go for a walk. And go for a walk every day from here for the rest of your life. Because if you go out and take a quick walk, you get away from everything. You have the opportunity to clear your mind.

You get to release those endorphins, get some exercise, and get the oxygen flowing through your body because you deserve it. The next thing I would recommend, and again it's free, it doesn't cost any money. But most people have a smartphone. On the smartphone there are applications that allow you to record messages. I need you to record a message to yourself that says, "I am worthy. I deserve a clean place to stay." And then record it as if you've already achieved it. "My house is beautiful, it's clean, bright and polished, and I love waking up in the morning and jumping out of bed with energy." And say it as if you've already accomplished those things.

This is what happens, if you listen to it over and over again, what happens is your mind starts believing it and then your mind starts looking for things to make it true. So when you wake up in the morning, instead of feeling like, "Oh, I just got hit by this truck and I'm really exhausted." You wake up and say, "Hey, I feel great!" Because you have told your unconscious mind and your conscious mind a multiplicity of times that you jump out of bed like a toast. And you feel great in the morning when you wake up and are ready to take on the day.

And then what happens is your unconscious mind starts producing those results. So even if your house is trashed, even if you have mold growing in the corners of your showers and you feel unloved and unworthy and all that stuff, if you listen to a tape and it would be great if it's in your voice because your mind, your mind unconscious recognizes your voice. You keep telling yourself things over and over again and your mind has gotten used to hearing your voice. So if you record a tape of your voice and play it over and over again, it will start to take you out of the cycle that you are in and start to create a new cycle for you and start to reprogram the way you feel about yourself.

Because if you feel unloved, unworthy, and feel like you don't deserve a clean place, you're wrong! The good news is that you are wrong. You deserve it. If you are here on this earth, you deserve a clean place to stay and you deserve it however you get there. Whether you hire someone or do it yourself or enlist the help of family and friends or church friends, whatever. I don't care how you do it, but over time you will begin to recreate the space you are in so that it is aligned with the stories you are telling yourself.

So if the tape you're listening to is old, if it's broken, if it no longer applies to you, and if that's not how you want to live, you have the power to change it. And it may not be easy and it may not be instant. It may take some time. But if you start by getting outside and going for a walk, that will be a starting point for you that will revolutionize the rest of your life, I promise you. Alright, that's all for today. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.