This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, We Get Better: 48 Treatment Options for Chronic Depression.
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Treatment option 21: Maintaining clean and organized living spaces, simplifying your life and keeping up on other tasks of adulting
I’m often surprised by how many of my clients cite home cleaning and maintenance as one of their primary personal goals. People say that when their dishes are done and their laundry is folded, they feel more productive, more powerful, and just … better about themselves. The book How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis offers some tips for effectively managing your adulting load. If you’re a person who struggles with daily to-dos, this book might be of help.
While you’re at it, consider simplifying your life in other ways. Do less. Organize your spaces. Pare down your wardrobe to your favorite essentials. Have a meal schedule that you repeat on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Use lists, shop only a few times a month, and find other ways to minimize your mental, physical and emotional expenditures on a weekly basis. Create a weekly schedule that includes all of your ongoing tasks and stick to it. All of these practices can increase feelings of productivity and reduce emotional exhaustion and decision fatigue.
Adulting can be a bore, but adulting is also powerful. Small daily tasks lead to major life accomplishments. As previously mentioned, many people find that completing just two items from their to-do lists per day can be enough to keep them on top of home-, health- and finance-related needs. (Work- and kid-related tasks are not included in this estimate, of course.)
If desired, add “maintaining clean living spaces,” “organizing my home,” “creating a weekly schedule,” “keeping up on tasks of adulting” and/or related strategies to your depression treatment plan. Then decide on next steps and write them on your to-do lists. As previously discussed, resist the temptation to overcomplicate your list system: a single much-used list is greater than a set of forgotten ones. Consolidate. Most important, consult the lists often.
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