Keeping a clean home can be hard work, but keeping a clean home all the time, can be even harder.
Most of us enjoy living in a clean and tidy environment, and many of us will dedicate at least an hour or two a week to dusting, hoovering, polishing and scrubbing our homes to keep them in a liveable condition. But there are those who take household cleaning to another level, and will obsessively clean their homes until their gruelling schedule begins to overtake their lives.
When cleaning becomes an obsession
For those who obsessively clean their homes, their gruelling schedule can quickly begin to take its toll, and their lives can be negatively affected by this in many ways. From not having the time to socialise due to the restraints of a rigorous cleaning routine, to thinking about cleaning when they need to be focusing on other things, such as their family or their job.
As with all aspects of our lives, there is a clear need for balance, and when that balance isn’t there, action must be taken; but what action, exactly?
What you can do to help curb your cleaning obsession:
Obsessive cleaning is a form of OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder, and they feed off stress and anxiety. The obsessive person will carry out an activity compulsively, often because they imagine that it will reflect positively in their lives, and that if they don’t do it obsessively, something terrible may happen as a result.
Obsessive compulsions may also lead the person to believe that in carrying out the task so fervently, their exhaustion may lead to stress levels being lowered and anxiety being relieved. However, there are many more simple and effective ways of reducing stress levels.
Learning to relax more before you begin cleaning, is the first step on the road to being rid of your obsession. Don’t expect to be able to stop cleaning altogether – and nor should you want to – but instead, learn how to feel relaxed before you take on your chores. If you sit in a quiet place and perhaps listen to some soothing music before you begin your day, you’ll find that your mind feels rested already, without needing to feel relaxed by fervently cleaning.
Then slowly begin to reduce the amount of cleaning that you do, and the time that you dedicate to it. Breaking up your cleaning routine will almost instantly see you noticing that it doesn’t matter if you start cleaning half an hour later than usual, or even if you forget to clean something, because nothing untoward will happen and you probably won’t even feel stressed. It’s very important to reduce your cleaning schedule slowly, though, otherwise it could have the opposite effect.
It also pays to tackle any other issues in your life that may be causing you to feel stressed or anxious, otherwise reducing the cleaning routine alone, may not be enough to help you.
Some OCD’s are linked to unrealistic fears, such as contamination. Seeking help from a professional can help you to overcome any irrational fears that you might have, and therefore help you to become less obsessive with your cleaning routine.
No one is suggesting that you ditch your cleaning routine altogether, but reducing it will allow you much more time to do the things you enjoy and to experience a quality of life that you may not have had for a very long time.
If no amount of therapy or self-help can see you reducing the time you dedicate to cleaning, why not give up trying and simply employ a professional house cleaning company who will do all the hard work for you and ensure that your home is continually spick and span!