5 replies to this topic

[818sis]

I am very messy and disorganized. It is at least in part due to the fact that any time I am home, I want to sleep. Does anyone else feel like they are too tired to clean?

What are some tricks you use to get yourself up and cleaning? Any advice?

[SleepyInOhio]

I totally understand and I too have trouble with getting motivated to do cleaning. But the house gets so bad I have to make myself do it....

I'm tired if I do anything or not, so may as well force myself to do it...

[thecatnapper]

I used to keep my house so squeaky clean that you could perform surgery in it...LOL! My family always said I had OCD because I have more organizational storage bins than anyone alive. People used to stop at the door and take their shoes off before walking into my home and I think my cleanliness made them uncomfortable for some reason. NOT ANYMORE! I am still way more organized than most people but I've gotten bad about letting the counters get messy from not putting things away and letting laundry pile up. I actually feel much better when things are neat and clean but it just seems to take so much energy just to stay awake. Physically, I'm not able to get down and scrub floors and corners like I used to. I also used to have a beautiful yard that was always perfectly manicured. Now, if I cut the grass every 2 weeks I feel like I've accomplished something. I'm so looking forward to getting on the proper treatment and getting back to the old ways.

[Enginerd]

Me...definitely. I always think, "I should clean that!" or "I should organize this!" and then my next thought is, "But I have no energy....." When I do have enough energy to start a cleaning project that takes longer than 15 minutes, I'll usually end up failing to finish it until a much later date.

I was just diagnosed with narcolepsy a year ago, so I'm still struggling to keep up with life, when it used to be the other way around. It would be a lot easier if any of my immediate family members or close friends took the time to read about this disease and make any effort to understand what I go through on a daily basis, but none of them do--one friend even changed the topic when I asked if he knew what narcolepsy was and how it impacted a person's life. This means my "messiness" is spotlighted at times and showcased as 'laziness' or a 'lack of gumption'. It's extremely frustrating. I'm trying to train myself to think it's alright to accomplish less, but it's hard since I grew up being very driven and energetic. I don't know how to accept functioning at less than 110%, if that makes sense. I don't know how I'll ever be successful if I can't even complete a task as simple as organizing papers in my room one afternoon.

[818sis]

Me...definitely. I always think, "I should clean that!" or "I should organize this!" and then my next thought is, "But I have no energy....." When I do have enough energy to start a cleaning project that takes longer than 15 minutes, I'll usually end up failing to finish it until a much later date.

I was just diagnosed with narcolepsy a year ago, so I'm still struggling to keep up with life, when it used to be the other way around. It would be a lot easier if any of my immediate family members or close friends took the time to read about this disease and make any effort to understand what I go through on a daily basis, but none of them do--one friend even changed the topic when I asked if he knew what narcolepsy was and how it impacted a person's life. This means my "messiness" is spotlighted at times and showcased as 'laziness' or a 'lack of gumption'. It's extremely frustrating. I'm trying to train myself to think it's alright to accomplish less, but it's hard since I grew up being very driven and energetic. I don't know how to accept functioning at less than 110%, if that makes sense. I don't know how I'll ever be successful if I can't even complete a task as simple as organizing papers in my room one afternoon.

I feel very similar, though I am pretty sure I have had IH all my life, and I've never been energetic. But in the last 2 years, I have been sleeping so much that I actually gave up cleaning (and cooking) altogether. Now that I'm on Nuvigil I plan to begin a massive clean-up (after finishing my Master's degree this summer). I am just hoping I can get it all done, then keep up some sort of a routine after that.

Don't get discouraged! You'll figure out what works for you. I bet that even though your body isn't at 110% anymore, your brain still is. That's where your success will come from. Keep on keeping on. It will get better.

[thecatnapper]

I feel very similar, though I am pretty sure I have had IH all my life, and I've never been energetic. But in the last 2 years, I have been sleeping so much that I actually gave up cleaning (and cooking) altogether. Now that I'm on Nuvigil I plan to begin a massive clean-up (after finishing my Master's degree this summer). I am just hoping I can get it all done, then keep up some sort of a routine after that.

Don't get discouraged! You'll figure out what works for you. I bet that even though your body isn't at 110% anymore, your brain still is. That's where your success will come from. Keep on keeping on. It will get better.

Good advice. Like I said, I used to be a huge neat freak. I'm not a Feng Shui fanatic but I loosely follow some of the guidelines as far as how I place things in my home and I can see why many people believe in it. I cannot stand clutter of any kind so when I get to feeling bad and get lazy I think the clutter makes me feel worse but sometimes I'll let it get bad enough that it takes a long time to get it all straight again. The thing to do is to put things away after you use them but sometimes it just seems easier to just toss things down and let them land where they may. When I had to quit working 4 years ago I lost my dream home and then when I moved to my current house I had to sell a lot of furniture and things because this house isn't even half the size of my last one. There were a lot of things that I couldn't let go of emotionally so things were cluttered for a while until I finally was able to let go of the "stuff" both physically and emotionally. So, last spring I did a major cleanup. I cleaned out all of the closets, file cabinets, and my kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I put things in a throw out pile and a donate pile.

I really purged a lot of things that I did not need or use anymore and it cleared out a lot of space to neatly store things that I wanted to keep. It took me about 2 weeks because of the fatigue and body pain but when I was done and had taken the trash to the dump and the donations to the salvation army, it felt like a totally different house. It felt like I had more space and order in my life again. The atmosphere was totally different! This may sound strange but having my space cleared made my health situation easier to deal with. I kept it that way for about six months and then last fall I got in really bad shape again so things got out of order again from not putting things back in their place and either living out of laundry baskets or the dryer and/or throwing clean laundry on the guest bed instead of folding it up and putting it away. I got sick of it and all the dust so yesterday I took a Nuvigil and started cleaning and organizing before 7AM and didn't stop until around 12PM. I decided I better get it done while I had the motivation to do it. I'm paying for it today with serious muscle pain and no sleep last night but it's like before when the atmosphere just felt lighter and in order so it's totally worth it.

I highly recommend cleaning and clearing out your space when you have time and feel up to it but don't push yourself. Just take your time and do what you can. A good rule is that if you haven't seen or used something in 6 months or more, or even forgot that you had it...you don't need it. Take it to a local thrift shop if it's still good and if not toss it in a hefty bag and get rid of it. I think you'll see a big difference, not so much physically but mentally.

Just a bit of advice from a former neat freak Mentally I still am very OCD but just not able to follow through physically anymore. I just do what I can when I can and try not to beat myself up for not being Martha Stewart anymore.