Is Your House Messy? Congratulations, you’re Normal
An immaculate home is the sign of a troubled mind. Mess is not only common, but normal in a family household. If you berate yourself for never having a perfect home: rest easy, you’re of sound mind.
The Mommy Delusion
How many times have you said to a visitor, “Please don’t mind the mess, I (fill in your favorite excuse here).” Many of us feel compelled to perpetuate this delusion that the mess an aberration.
‘Fess up—it’s a lie. We both know that toys on the floor or unfolded laundry on the dining room table is not the exception; it’s the rule. We’re afraid that if anyone knew how ‘lived in’ our house normally looks, it would reflect badly on us. Yet almost all of us do it—you do the math.
What an Immaculate Home Says
Anyone who can raise kids and maintain an immaculate home without a full staff of servants has some serious problems. If you spend most of your time trying to rid your home of evidence that children live there, you are focusing on the wrong things in life. Your priorities are skewed.
If you spend all your time cleaning up after your family or badgering them to clean up after themselves, you need to spend more quality time with them. Or you need to get out more, maybe get more sleep—whatever. But something’s wrong there. You might want to see someone about that obsessive-compulsive urge to clean.
Getting Priorities Straight
I’m not saying a moldy toilet or infestations of bugs are the norm—but don’t sweat unmade beds, a few dirty dishes sitting around or some crayon on the wall. This is normal. When all is said and done, it’s not the juice stains on the couch that you will regret. It’s the time you missed with your kids when you were trying to scrub them out that you’ll wish you had back.
Photo: Pixabay
