I could never really understand why coming home to a neat & tidy bedroom or home-space made me feel so good. Now bear in mind, growing up in my household, cleaning & tidying were duties drilled, seared into my brain, so much so, that I became slightly psychotic about this, waking up in the middle of the night to neaten my bed linen. What a quack! LOL. Fortunately, this imprint hasn’t rendered emotionally negative dispositions. Weeeeelll, at least not any that I know about LOL. I get that you may have assumed this to be true, given the tone of my preface. On the contrary actually. I love that my mom hammered me with this life skill & after fishing, probing & digging for the reasons as to why I feel a sense of elation after proceeding to make my bed in the morning, I finally identified the root of my euphoria.

I guess without being aware, my mom was teaching me about chaos & order & how to win the day, small triumphs at a time, starting by trouncing my first goal after opening my eyes. 

Keeping a neat room or space is more psychologically revealing than we may think. How you do one thing, is how you do everything. This also revealed a lot about my need to compartmentalize things. I do these silly things like when I’m in the kitchen, & say I’m making myself a sandwich right, I’d gather everything that goes into the fridge together & try my best to walk to that side of the kitchen only once. I mean, it’s not like the kitchen is as big as a parking lot where I’d have to walk a kazillion meters from one end to the next, but I’d still feel like I’d have achieved efficiency when making one trip to the refrigerator instead of two or three. It’s the same with my bed in the morning. I wake up, pray, meditate & make my bed, before leaving my room. In my mind I’m like “Ok that’s done. Check!” These daily habits give me a sense of accomplishment. They build & produce a strong mind. My to-do list can definitely attest to this as well. Realistically, I know that I may not get through every entry on my to-do list, but the fact that I can check off completed tasks, sends a positive signal to my brain, that I am committed, organized, disciplined & that my emotions DO NOT DICTATE MY FORWARD MOTION, because they change. They are simply indicators or symptoms showing up. Also, according to numerous studies, making your bed in the morning is a surefire sign of a life reflecting a person who is adventurous, confident, sociable & high-maintenance. Meanwhile, people on the opposite end tend to be shy, moody, curious & sarcastic. OUCH!! Their words not mine! Don’t shoot the messenger. 

So, becoming a bed-maker actually bears significant importance. Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Seal William H. McCraven says that “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day, ″ he continues to say “it will give you a small sense of pride, & it will encourage you to do another task, & another, & another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.” I concur. He added that making your bed helps to reinforce the importance of life’s finer details. He emphasized that “if you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made.”

I guess it’s time to reevaluate those habits & to be honest about the ones that do not serve us. Kick it! Now, if I can only get into the habit of cleaning those dirty dishes HAHAHAHA! Let’s not push it now, I’m no hero.