Blogmas 2021 | 12 Days of Christmas | Day 12

Dear World,

This letter is more of a realization than anything else. Take from it what you will.

I don’t know about you but cleaning quietens my mind and relaxes my spirit. It sometimes wears me out but I still enjoy it.

For me, the best time to clean is during or after a major event that negatively impacts my life in some kind of way.

It’s almost as if the act of physically cleaning helps me to metaphorically cleanse my life. It helps me see the situation with a cleaner lens and perspective in the ‘during’, and it helps me to see in retrospect with a less muddied view.

Once the situations pass, cleaning helps me to either start over or refresh with a clean slate.

So, this Christmas was quite quiet in my household. It was unlike all the others because there wasn’t as much fanfare, very little excitement. It felt much like a major break from all the chaos that’s been happening due to this global pandemic known as the COVID-19 virus…affectionately called ‘pandora’s box’ by me and many other folks. Christmas this year felt heavy – after having lost family members this year, missing loved ones lost long ago, and also being unsure of what the future will hold. I even remember crying yesterday because of the heaviness.

Today, December 26, 2021, I woke up and decided to clean. I deep cleaned my bathroom, washed the walls, changed my sheets and towels, and did laundry. Next on my list after I complete this post is to wash my hair and do an in-home facial.

In my mind, cleaning, in general, will help to lighten my load. It could be a placebo effect but it could also be an actual science-based and empirically supported claim. I have no clue. I just know that it works.

As much as taking regular baths, deep cleaning the house, rearranging items, doing laundry, cleaning the oven before using it, washing your hands after touching a dirty surface, or even washing your hair helps to keep yourself and spaces clean – a cleanse of the mind, body and soul complements those other actions to create a holistic clean approach to life.

So, for some, going to their place of worship does the trick – you know…according to the Marxists, religion is the opiate of the masses. As for me, music, dance, other art forms fall in the category of opiates….and though opiates refer to drugs more than it does to cleaning, actual cleansing gives me a euphoric feeling. Some people even go to a psychologist/a therapist. Whatever works for you works for you.

Actually seeing a therapist, in my opinion, helps to declutter the mind, fix up thought processes and assists to healthier ways of self-expression and dealing with the messes that we find ourselves in. So, in some way, therapy is like that big spoon in a pot of soup that gets everything to stir and mix well as they unfold in our lives. It also doubles as the doppelganger for the Mr. Clean magic eraser to remove dirt and debris from the surfaces of your life.

I’m not so sure I’m even making sense to any of you reading this but cleaning works for me. 2022 has me in my feels and all in my head questioning a lot of moves already made and moves I’m considering to make. I’m anxious. Not sure how cleaning and consuming my kinds of opiates will help, but I believe there will be a load taken off my shoulders and with a clear headspace and clean physical spaces, I’ll be better able to handle it all.

Anyways…as usual, *these thoughts and experiences are my own and they’re not necessarily supported by any real empirical evidence. Great, glad to have gotten that out the way.

Signed with love and a clean heart,

The Sububan Girl JA