“When I think about ‘What do I need in the morning?’ all of the sudden I can get specific.” She makes sure she has enough clean dishes and counter space so that she can make breakfast, empties the trash and sweeps up any crumbs. “I came away from this idea that it had to be all or nothing and just started thinking about function” when it came to cleaning, she said. She often doesn’t have the energy to clean her whole kitchen every evening, so she started doing just a few small tasks, “as a kindness to future me to set myself up for success in the morning.” Davis is also a big advocate for what she calls “closing duties,” inspired by her time working as a waitress. Focusing on one category at a time keeps her from getting overwhelmed when it seems like there are a hundred different items that need to be put away. One of her most popular strategies is “ five things tidying,” the idea that there are only five things in any room: trash, dishes, laundry, things with a place and things without a place. Her systems are realistic about her capabilities and focus on having a livable space, not a spotless one. Turned off by much of the self-help and cleaning content that has what she called “boot camp messaging,” she opted for a gentler, more pragmatic approach. Davis started posting videos of her progress on TikTok, where she now has 1.5 million followers. While she worked to declutter her home, Ms. Davis realized that, without any systems in place, she was in over her head. “I’ve always been a messy person,” she said, “but it’s always been functional.” Suddenly faced with a new baby, postpartum depression and a pandemic, Ms. Focus on function, not aestheticsįor KC Davis, a licensed professional counselor and author of the book “How to Keep House While Drowning,” her clutter problem ballooned when her second child was born in early 2020. If you are struggling and it feels impossible to keep your surroundings tidy, here are a few tips on how to clean strategically to optimize your energy and your space. And while decluttering will not cure your depression, it can give you a mood boost. “They just don’t have the capacity to engage with housecleaning and upkeep that they probably once did.”Ī messy home can also contribute to feelings of overwhelm, stress and shame, making you feel worse than you already do. People are “oftentimes just so mentally and physically exhausted that they don’t feel like they have the energy to take care of themselves or their surroundings,” Dr. Brad Schmidt, a distinguished research professor of psychology at Florida State University. The clutter that can accumulate when people are experiencing a mental health crisis is neither a form of hoarding, nor the result of laziness. But experts have long recognized the link between messiness and mental health. The term “depression room” is relatively new, popularized by videos on TikTok and YouTube that have accrued hundreds of millions of views. “I fear that the only way that I will make myself clean this room is if I film it.” “Today we’re going to be cleaning my depression room,” the 24-year-old YouTube star, who posts videos as Abbe Lucia, tells the camera. On the floor lie two half-empty water bottles, a novelty bottle of tequila with a glass cactus inside, and a pet food dispenser. There are eight abandoned cups of coffee on the desk and bedside table. Four large plastic baskets are stacked on top of each other, some filled with laundry, others with electronics. The floor is mostly invisible, hidden by piles of clothes. A camera pans around Abegael Milot’s bedroom.
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