Generally speaking, I don’t think many of us like cleaning house. I have a couple of friends who enjoy it and do it like every other day, but personally it takes a lot for me to clean a toilet bowl or dust a bookshelf. I could be doing better things with my time. Plus, we all tend to think our shit doesn’t stink... if we can live with it, can’t everyone else? Cleaning is never just about tidying up. It also reminds us how much we’d rather avoid the mess in the first place.

The short answer is, no. Mess is stinky. And much like we loathe cleaning out the old cobwebs and layers of dust that have settled into our homes, we also must clean out the ones settled within us. By this I mean it’s important every now and then to take an honest look at ourselves, and see what baggage, dirt, and dust we’re carrying around with us. We may not notice it at first, but it shapes the way we move through the day.

The stuff that affects our lives and those closest to us can build up slowly. You know those old bad habits that you have, the ones that keep you spinning in circles rather than moving on? It doesn’t matter what they are – grievances, bitterness, fear, worry, etc. They are like the layers of dust collecting in the same dark corners of the house that we ignore, and at some point they can start to make you sick. At some point, they build up so much that you can no longer ignore them.

I don’t have the answers, but I know it’s the small steps that can lead us to a different path. Maybe it’s admitting when I’m wrong, or letting a friend know if I’m scared or nervous, or expressing my feelings when I’m angry rather than turning inward. It’s all about making the smallest of efforts, one step at a time, and when you clean, you have to start somewhere. And even if you don’t get all of those dark corners, it won’t be so hard to clean the next time, or the time after that.