Do people actually get stressed by messy rooms?

Discussion in 'General Advice' started by theambernerd, Jul 31, 2016.

  1. theambernerd

    theambernerd dead to all sense of shame

    This is constantly baffling to me. In like, every stress and focus management advice piece you ever see it's like 'keeping a clean environment always helps!' but I. Don't notice. If my room's clean I get a rush of accomplishment-feeling from being able to clean it, but I am no more bothered if there's clothes all over the floor than if there isn't. It doesn't change like. anything. other than where I might step on the floor. I only ever get stressed about my room if there's enough dirty dishes to start breeding fruit fly colonies.

    I also just. Don't notice messes at the same threshold as other people. I've had my mom, and friends, and others express frustration at the level of mess in a room that I feel like is clean? And then they point out like, 6-12 random objects out of place throughout the room and like. two food wrappers and some dust and crumbs around the furniture and floor. That... feels about the same as completely clean to me? I have literally gone around helping mom pick up the main floor of the house, think I'm done, only for mom to point out like four things i'd left out that my brain completely skipped over when I was looking around.

    am i the only person like this ?? i'm so confused
     
  2. Saro

    Saro Where is wizard hut

    Yes/no. I get stressed by very particular aspects of messiness. Like, the floor being hairy/dusty/dirty stresses me out because when I walk on it, it's yucky and feels bad. Dishes not being done also stresses me out, so does a dirty stove top or counter. There are other things too but thinking of examples is hard. Generally, messiness doesn't stress me out too badly (although I get in moods where it does and then I straighten up as best I can) but dirtiness/grossness does, if that makes sense.
     
    • Like x 1
  3. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    i get stressed by cluttered rooms. if there's a sinkful of filthy dishes in an otherwise mostly empty room, or some wrappers on the floor, that's much preferable imo to a room with a lot of objects in it that is super clean.

    for example, this room doesn't bother me:

    [​IMG]

    it's not neatly squared away, but there's room to move and things are roughly where they belong -- bedding on the bed, shoes on the floor, a clothing item on the bed is nbd -- it's not stressful.

    whereas this

    [​IMG]

    makes my brain come to a screeching halt and then crawl under the bed whimpering. there are TOO MANY THINGS in that room.
     
    • Like x 6
  4. Lissa Lysik'an

    Lissa Lysik'an Dragon-loving Faerie

    Ancient Guardian never notices a mess unless it gets in his way or smells bad. Literally does not see a stack of dishes on the counter if there is enough space to do what he wants to do.
    I am fussy about floors being clean because I am always barefoot and stepping on things that are unexpected freaks me out (anything unexpected freaks me out). My desk is always a cluttered mess except the area Baby sits on (because she'll push anything that is there to the floor - even if it is a glass full of soda or something). Laundry (what little there is since I like being nakies) has a place - a pile in a corner of the room. Anywhere else then it is "out of place" and so very annoying. So in some ways, yeah, I notice messes because "it doesn't look like it did before" or "I touched something I did not expect to touch", but otherwise - I let Mom clean up when she comes over to visit, since she's going to anyway.
     
    • Like x 2
  5. Lissa Lysik'an

    Lissa Lysik'an Dragon-loving Faerie

    That second room hurts to look at.
     
    • Like x 2
  6. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    ikr?? it's a hotel, it's supposed to be SO COZY and if you put me in there i would have to cover my eyes to keep from melting down D:
     
    • Like x 1
  7. Lambda

    Lambda everything happens so much

    floors that haven't been vacuumed enough are upsetting, but that's mostly because I glance at it, see dark spots on light carpet, and immediately panic thinking it's spiders. and too much stuff on the floor: places for spiders to hide.

    so it's not really much to do with cleanliness at all, just an extension of arachnophobia >_> but vacuumed carpet is visually pleasing too and nicer to walk on
     
    • Like x 1
  8. Lambda

    Lambda everything happens so much


    the second room is such a fire hazard
    why is there so much stuff around so many candles
     
    • Like x 4
  9. unknownanonymous

    unknownanonymous i am inimitable, i am an original|18+

    THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY CANDLES
     
    • Like x 7
  10. electroTelegram

    electroTelegram Well-Known Member

    i have an apparently messy room but it's not a problem to me, so it doesn't stress me out. not knowing where things are is stressful, but my room doesnt have to be clean or neat for me to know where things are.

    like the desk chair: for laundry! the floor: for overnight travel bag/ shoes! and etc.

    so everything has its place, and as long as no one comes in and tries to "fix" it (hello mother) it doesn't matter that it kinda looks like a hellhole.

    but i do not have food in my room. im too clumsy and i would hate to have broken dishes or end up spilling something
     
  11. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    my room isn't especially tidy, like there's a broken windowblind on the floor under the air conditioner, and knitting projects spilling out of the yarn shelf, and a cat-hair-covered towel on the radiator because sOMEONE threw up on his beddie and it went for washings. but things have their place, and they're all around the edges of the room, they don't obstruct movement or sightline. and they're kind of grouped neatly, if that makes sense. the yarn shelf is the yarn shelf, and if i look in that direction i see yarn.

    not yarn, books, pillows, a china figurine of a weird-faced cat, and fifty-seven fucking candles. :T
     
    • Like x 4
  12. unknownanonymous

    unknownanonymous i am inimitable, i am an original|18+

    who even needs fifty-seven fucking candles anyway
     
    • Like x 6
  13. KingStarscream

    KingStarscream watch_dogs walking advertisement

    Clutter bothers me, but not enough for me to actually do anything about it. And some clutter doesn't at all, like clothes being everywhere, provided I can tell at a glance whether a thing is dirty or clean. (I have great recall, so I can usually tell if a thing is something that has been used.) I tend to exist in a level of depressed irritation whenever things are too junked up though. And grime definitely affects my mood.

    But I'm definitely less bothered than my mom is, and my degree of 'look ma it's clean' is different from hers. Same general source though, which is my grandmas hoarding problem.

    (Also that hotel room is so. Why. Who thought that was a good idea.)
     
    • Like x 2
  14. rorleuaisen

    rorleuaisen Frozen Dreamer

    So for me, dirt/clutter is like visual static. Yeah, I can manage in cluttered and dirty environments, but it takes more effort for my brain to process just because there is so much going. And it is a subtle thing. I don't go into dirty/cluttered areas and just shut down, but it makes things heavier and harder to deal with.

    Tidy/clean things are freeing like fresh air, especially in my own home. Less things for my brain to process and more room for me to focus on other things(also yay for knowing where things are for those sudden moments of "where is that thing that I put down that I suddenly need?!"). Also light. Good lighting helps me feel fresh and free.

    In other people's homes, I actually prefer a bit of clutter/dirt because it feels safer to exist in. Less like there are a thousand rules and that I have to behave in a specific way. (Sparkly clean designer homes are terrifying)

    Anyways! I am a very visual person so the looks of a room do effect me a decent chunk and can shut me down on occasion. Definitely don't help when I am already in a funk :/
     
    • Like x 6
  15. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    churches and 80's power ballad videos

    that's about it
     
    • Like x 10
  16. Secret Squirrel

    Secret Squirrel certainly something

    The low lighting in that second room kills me. Dark or light, pick one!!! It also makes me anxious I'm going to break something. My head would explode if I had to clean it. But other than worrying I'll knock something over because it's crowded, the clutter doesn't bother me. (Then again- *gestures to their mom's habit of using hallways and other peoples rooms as storage areas* -my perception might be different than others.)

    Messy rooms stress me out sometimes. If it's other people's rooms, they stress me if: there's a smell that bothers me, I think I might encounter old food, or I think I might encounter an arthropod of some kind. If it's my room, it's Nebulous Bad Feeling that I've Done Something Wrong. Which is annoying, because if it's "too clean" I get stressed out about maintaining the cleanliness. Equilibrium seems to be "lots of stuff out, anything messy is in a contained pile, & outright trash is in the trash can".
     
    • Like x 1
  17. unknownanonymous

    unknownanonymous i am inimitable, i am an original|18+

    when it comes to mess, the thing that bothers me most is food, which is as a much a result of my own particular sensory issues as anything else. i'm not sure what i think of other types of mess or clutter.
     
    • Like x 1
  18. theambernerd

    theambernerd dead to all sense of shame

    that second photo jack put down pinged me as antique store; that is the only place that various furnishings are allowed to be put so close together like that.

    whereas like, my room is not at a bother level for me right now other than the embarrassment of other people knowing it's like this.. here. just look.

    IMG_3668.JPG IMG_3669.JPG
     
    • Like x 1
  19. chthonicfatigue

    chthonicfatigue Bitten by a radioactive trickster god

    I get genuinely claustrophobic in rooms with too much stuff in them; a messy room - like our spare room is currently - makes me panicked and/or overwhelmed. I have a weird phobia of loose hair, so it's worth it to me to keep the place relatively clutter free and well vacuumed.

    Here's my living room, which is just on the brink of being Too Much clutter because I'm an asshole who won't clear up art supplies if it's not strictly necessary.
    image.jpeg
    Hey there kitty catto, just had to get in the picture, didn't you.
     
    • Like x 1
  20. Aondeug

    Aondeug Cringe Annoying Ass Female Lobster

    Depending on the kind of mess I get very stressed out. Things like plates that haven't been rinsed after being used just really unnerves me. Other things are less that the mess stresses me out and more than the ritual of cleaning soothes me. Things like making my bed are like that. Some of the things that upset me meanwhile are sensory things. Like I dislike when wooden floors need sweeping and mopping because I just hate the feel of crumbs and such against my bare feet. It upsets me heavily because the texture is just WRONG. I also get very anal and upset when my altar areas aren't clean. That's because I feel bad and stressed out over not being a good host to my gods.

    There's a lot of reasons cleanliness affects my stress levels.
     
    • Like x 1
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