Stress = Mess

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am a naturally messy person. Its always been a long-running joke, as evidenced by Ryan's Gift List this past Christmas. I don't know why I'm messy - I really hate it! I really like it when things are clean and organized, but for some reason I just can't keep it together.

As I've gotten older, I've begun to realize that the messiness of my apartment/room is directly related to the amount of stress I'm under. When I am not busy, not stressed out, I have the time and energy to consciously keep things clean. I can get my papers under control (70% of my mess) and keep my clothes washed and off the floor (20% of my mess) and generally clean things. For example, over Christmas break, my apartment was spotless. However, when I am extremely busy, the pendulum swings exactly the opposite way. I just put things wherever they'll fit and if I have a free hour or so, the last thing that I want to do is clean - I'm going to take that time to try to relax. Its not gross mess though - no food is involved. I'm only messy with non-perishables. My kitchen tends to stay clean.

My roommates used to know how stressed I was by how messy my room was...it is actually a fairly accurate gauge. This was a big adjustment for Nichole (AKA Mrs. Clean) and caused a little tension at first because she didn't recognize the correlation between stress and mess and didn't realize that the last thing I needed when I was stressed was for someone to remind me that my room was messy, but after a while she learned to let it go for about a week til things calmed down and I'd eventually get my life and mess under control. So today I have been in my apartment for more than one hour straight (which hasn't happened in quite some time) and as I am looking around, I am realizing something. These past couple of weeks have been the most stressful weeks I've ever had in my life. Use your imagination.