Do you suffer from anxiety and are not sure how to keep a clean home? You may feel stressed out when you see all the work that needs to be done and how messy your home is, but then you may feel stressed out by cleaning as well. How do you cope and manage to get your home clean while not overtaxing your anxiety?
We have a few suggestions for you. But keep in mind that your doctor or other medical health professional can advise you more specifically as to what you can do.
Some Cleaning Can Be Good for You
If you have trouble getting started on cleaning your home because of stress, then we suggest just doing some cleaning. Getting some work done can be helpful for your stress levels. Physical labor will reduce stress and work off some of the anxious energy that you may have.
Try doing some housework- not enough to make you overly tired- and see how you feel afterwards. You might benefit from some light cleaning. This can reduce stress because you will be accomplishing something and clearing up some of the mess in the home. It can also help because you will be doing work, and that can burn off extra energy that makes you feel anxious, and it can stimulate your body’s natural processes.
Prioritize What You Can Do
You should also set your priorities before you begin cleaning. Write down all of the tasks that you need to do and then go through that list and pick out what items need to be done first. You can number them by order of importance, working on the ones that matter most.
Figure out which tasks are most necessary and start there. When you finish those, even if you can’t do anything of lesser importance, you will at least feel a sense of accomplishment. You will feel like you have done something worthwhile, and you will have made an impact on the housework.
Try not to give yourself too much work to do, but see what kinds of tasks you can finish. Getting those most important tasks done will feel great, and you may realize that the lesser tasks are not even necessary.
By setting priorities, you can keep yourself from wasting time and puttering around on tasks that aren’t really useful. You will also focus your energy and efforts on the things that matter most, which can be helpful for your stress.
Get Some Help Occasionally
Here is a tip that you could benefit from- if you need some help, then ask for it. If you feel like you cannot handle all of the housework that needs to be done, then call for professional cleaners. You can try the best move-out cleaning in Queens, NY or the best maid service in the area.
If you get stressed out by the housework you have to do, and you feel even more stressed when you try to do that work, it’s a sensible thing to hire professional cleaners. You may not want to hire them every week, but bringing them in occasionally can help you substantially.
You can use them for targeted cleaning, asking them to clean parts of your home that are too difficult for you, areas that require a lot of strenuous work, or tasks that you just don’t want to do yourself. With their help, you may be able to keep your home cleaner and feel less stressed about the entire situation.
Seeing a messy home can make you feel plenty of anxiety, but you don’t have to feel like you are fighting the battle on your own. If you can afford it, then bring in some help from time to time and take some of the load off of your own shoulders.
Break Up the Work
Do you have tons of work to do in your home? It can feel overwhelming just looking at it all or thinking about it. What may cause you anxiety is considering how much work has to be done and knowing that you don’t have the strength, energy, or time to do all of it.
So, what will help is if you break up the work into small, manageable sections. You might feel overwhelmed by large quantities of work, but if you can break down the work into one small task at a time, then you can feel more in control of the situation.
So, you can try to break down cleaning the kitchen into smaller bits like this:
· Mop the floors
· Sweep the floors
· Take out the trash
· Wash the dishes
· Wipe own the counters
· Clean out the oven
· Wipe down the stovetop
Just try to get one task down in a single go and then rest and do something that relieves some of the stress. By breaking up the work, it will not feel as big, and it can also help to check each item off your list as you do it. This will help you to feel more accomplished, and it can build up the confidence you need to do larger quantities of work in one go.
Give Yourself a Time Limit
How long should you work for before you stop? We suggest setting a time limit based on what you know your own limitations are. Give yourself 30 minutes or so to clean and then set a timer. Once the timer goes off, you can stop working. Just drop the mop, put down the broom and leave the rest of the dishes, until it is time to come back and finish the job, another 30 minutes at a time.
You might be surprised at how well this works to keep your anxiety under control. You can clean your home effectively in this manner and not feel stressed out about the big workload. That’s because you will only be focusing on one 30-minute cleaning session at a time. That’s manageable enough for anyone to handle.
