A woman caught the eye of thousands on Facebook after she used a pile of dirty dishes to illustrate the symptoms of depression. This was one of the most effective example I had ever heard for depression/anxiety and the post really helped to scale back the stigma attached to mental health issues.
When I struggled with anxiety and depression, there were many evenings I would fall into bed exhausted after a long day of work or just too much late night TV watching and didn’t want to clean my dishes. So when I woke up the next morning and saw all the dishes left over in the sink, my day just did not start out too great.
If you have ever been depressed, anxious or in any way struggled with mental health, you are likely all too familiar with it’s powerful ability to zap you of all energy and motivation.
For some, being severely depressed means going out every night in an effort to distract yourself. For others, it involves staying in your pajamas and spending days, sometimes weeks, binge-watching shows on Netflix from your bed. Regardless of whether you are in a period of active destruction or passive hibernation, one part of ill mental health remains constant: your environment reflects your state of being.
Growing up, I never really understood why my mother would not go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. My thinking was, it would take the same amount of time to do them at night as it would the next morning. And she would not be as tired as she was after a late night.
But she always said, “I want to go to bed with a clean kitchen.”
Two years into my healing journey, it all makes sense now. One part of it is cleanliness, but another part is the psychology behind the mess and the clutter.
I have made it a goal to always ensure a clean and empty sink before I go to bed. I changed my ways to set myself up for a successful morning and a healthy mind!
Every night before I get too comfortable and relaxed with my family I do all the dishes. Occasionally, I will clean them right after using them. Which I seem to have more motivation to do lately.
If you aspire to be a happy, health and motivated human being, I implore you to start to create small habits in that direction. You will not wake up one day and suddenly be the person you have always wanted to be. Success is a few good habits repeated everyday. Failure is a few bad habits repeated everyday.
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