Sunday morning. Get out of bed, open the blinds, and get to work. A little Swiffer, a little
Windex, and bam: a perfectly clean room. But is it really worth the hassle of doing all that work
on the weekend? In my opinion, yes!
As a freshman starting college, there’s obviously a lot you have to adapt to. New classes,
new friends, new routines, new everything. Even after freshman year, life never stops throwing
curveballs. For me, I started to feel like everything was out of my control, and that my life was
falling into complete chaos. But the one thing that I did have total control over? My side of the
room. Now, every Sunday morning, I put on my headphones and clean the floor, dust my desk,
do my laundry, take out my trash— basically everything I can think of doing to tidy up. Then
when my roommates both get up, we open the blinds and let the sun shine in.
Is it a little basic to say you should clean your room and not sit in the dark all the time?
Sure. But for me, it’s not just surface level tidying, but a total reset of my mindset. No matter
what happened during the previous week, I’m able to begin the new one with a fresh start— it’s
almost like starting with a blank slate. And even beyond the obvious benefits of a clean living
space, the time I spend cleaning is a nice distraction from any stressors or feelings of being
overwhelmed. Having a clean dorm, or at least my area in the dorm, is the one thing totally in my
control; when I do clean up, I don’t have to worry about friend troubles or class struggles— it’s
just me, the Swiffer and a nice shiny floor. By starting the week off with a little cleaning time,
anything that may come up later in the week is okay. Doing this reminds me that I’m not totally
helpless in all aspects of my life.
So next weekend: hop out of bed, open the blinds, and set aside a few minutes to clean
up— if you’re anything like me, you’ll start the week feeling a million times better