Tidying up is a phrasal verb that means to put back things to their proper place. This act makes an initially jumbled place looks neat and more welcoming. In our lives, different aspects need cleaning and re-arranging. This ranges from the material surroundings such as our house or office space to the immaterial surroundings such as our emotional and spiritual environment. When things around us are disorganised and thrown everywhere, we lose focus and descend into chaos; when we take a step to rearrange and put things back in order, we get a chance to achieve closure on certain issues and finally focus on those that matter at the moment. Some of the benefits of tidying up, or rather the miracles that it does to our physiology and psychology includes a decrease in frustration, sense of responsibility, cultivation of self-care, a sense of achievement, clarity of thinking, promotes efficiency and gives room for creativity change.
Frustration builds up when there is chaos and we don’t know how to navigate our personal space or where to start. With such a feeling, we are even not comfortable on inviting people to our environment. This can be prevented by rearranging the space. Putting everything back to where it’s supposed to be. It will immediately extinguish the noise of seeing everything everywhere. When we successfully clean one part of our life, we get a chance to see the other parts of our life or the next section of our space that needs cleaning. It can, therefore, result in continuous cleanup which further amplifies the feeling of accomplishment and organisation.
Creativity is blocked when things are not in a specific shape or style of arrangement. Tidying up gives our environment a well-defined point of view which enables our minds to create more ways through which space can be enhanced. Most religious leaders and mystical gurus claim that creativity is generated when we are in one with nature. Nature has geometrical precision and arrangements; it goes without saying that for us to be aligned with the creative universe, we must tidy up, and bring order to our lives. That is if our line of thinking co-relates with such mystical teachings. Even in a practical sense, an ideal human being, even yourself is well organised and physiologically symmetrical, and therefore clutter interferes with one’s physiological and psychological presentation.
Poor organisation goes hand in hand with irresponsibility and stress. Psychologists suggest that to deal with these two, the first thing one must do is organise their physical surroundings. This can involve activities such as washing the dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the house, arranging the garage, and even slashing and weeding around the house. When this is complete, a sense of responsibility automatically embraces a person and they can face what is stressing them or rather what is causing them discomfort. In the process of cleaning, ideas on how to go about one’s problems may cross the mind and thus gives a sense of direction. As well as, tidying up takes your mind from your routine, thoughts, and problems as you could listen to music or just hum. These are just a few ways on how tidying up can make us feel better about ourselves. The concept of decluttering has been explored by famous individuals such as Marie Kondo and proven effective in improving our lives.
In a nutshell, let’s tidy up!
* The author is a consultant in Public Relations and Personality Types. Instagram: @Tipsbyhalahill
Hala Bader al-Humaidhi
