To any process, there are steps and stages taken to get through the work of it. These are the six stages to cleaning your room:
Stage 1: Ambition
All those Pinterest pins on your home/decor wall weren’t for nothing and it’s finally time to get rid of all the clutter taking up what used to be your room. Boxes filled with books and old notes from school, shelves filled with buckets of pencils and weird objects you can’t seem to throw away because what if I need that someday, and clothes, clothes you’ve had since middle school still eating away space in your drawers. These unnecessary items are blocking you from your dreams of living that clean, minimalist lifestyle and you’ve had enough of it. You’re grabbing garbage bags and envisioning all the new ways to utilize your beautiful new room, worthy of it’s own pinterest pin.
Stage 2: Announcing
Now that you’ve planned your day of cleaning it’s time to let everyone know what you’re about to do. Your friends and family will be proud to know that you are taking the time to get your act together. Text, Snapchat and let everyone know that you are embarking on a new chapter of your life; one that allows you to roam freely in your spaciously soft carpeted floor and easily choose outfits from your tiny charming closet. This is it, this is your time to show others that you are a successful adult who can manage a simple and tidy lifestyle.
Step 3: Netflix
You need background noise to fuel your sense of cleaning and what better option than a continuous spout of shows from Netflix. So now you sit down and browse through the wide variety of shows it has to offer. You have to put serious thought into your selection as the show will service as an important entertainment aspect throughout this cleaning process. You don’t want to choose something that will distract you and cause you to abandon your task at hand. You browse for a while and see new shows that have been added, you add them to your watch later list and continue scrolling. It feels as though a lot of time has passed since logging on and you start panicking slightly. You pick an easy show like Bob’s Burgers or Chopped so you can stay focused on the bigger picture. Maybe music would have been better, maybe you should put in the new Beyoncé album, Lemonade that you just bought, or better yet, save that for when you’re done cleaning as a reward from B herself. You’re going to do this and it’s going to be great. She would be so proud.
Step 4: Notifications
It’s been a few hours since you've "started," so you check your phone for new messages, snaps, texts, twitter and oh hey there are a ton of emails you haven’t checked yet. You’re on your phone telling yourself you need to make a slow transition into cleaning your room. You can’t just jump in and expect everything to be fine, perfection takes time and you have plenty. It’s not until the sun starts setting that you’ve realized you haven’t started cleaning one bit.
Step 5: Food
You can’t clean on an empty stomach! You go down to the kitchen and have some food, telling yourself food is fuel and you need it. Right after this meal you would have the energy to clean 100 rooms if you wanted. It’s still okay, there’s still time, there’s still purpose to your life. There’s still time…
Step 6: Forgiveness
It’s been three days now and all you’ve done is eat, start and finish a new show on Netflix and sit in shame between the contents of unpacked clothes and the sad juxtaposition of items scattered all around the floor. What are these things and why did it have to be this way? The good news is that it’s summer and there actually is time. So although you haven’t cleaned yet, and you aren’t sure what you’ve been doing this whole time, it’s okay. You can take it slow and steady. Start with one dresser of clothes and take a break. Create a box of items to donate and a bag of items to throw away. Soon enough you’ll have the desire to keep going and fix up your room as you’ve always wanted to. Just give yourself time and patience and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. Good luck everyone!
