Personal Traits Real-life and many studies show that messiness is actually a very common personality trait. In some cases, people are simply uninterested in cleaning up the mess they are living in.
Some people are predisposed to be messier than others as a result of their genetic traits and personality. We all have different perceptions of how messy is too messy. Some people won't feel comfortable until every part of their home and office is pristine.
Messy House Disorders
Like someone with OCD who feels they need to micromanage every aspect of their life, someone who is chronically disorganized may suffer from depression or another mental health condition. Depressed individuals have difficulty doing even the simplest tasks, like getting out of bed.
A messy room can be a sign of depression or another mental health issue. Clutter affects your mood and can cause more anxiety or stress. Your child can get caught in a cycle of messiness that worsens their mental health and vice versa.
Having a messy house is very normal and common, even if it doesn't seem so. Mess can be found in every house. Sometimes clutter becomes a bit overwhelming, but there's no need to panic because all houses become messy at times. If the space is still sanitary there shouldn't be serious long-term harm.
Some people simply do not place a high priority on having everything clean, organized, and in its place. In this case, messiness is simply a normal state of affairs. If the house is cluttered and it's just fine with you, then it's probably more a sign of your personality and preferences.
“For example, depression can manifest as a messy and cluttered home. It can also indicate that apathy has set in. [The person could be] overextended in some areas of their life and it's manifesting by neglecting their surroundings.”
If you feel bad for not getting on the Marie Kondo bandwagon, don't. Having a messy home can actually be a sign of intelligence and creativity. According to research people who live in an untidy environment tend to be more open minded and clever.
Clutter in the living room might suggest blockages in your social life, as well as your relationship with yourself, while a cluttered bedroom might relate to issues surrounding your sexual self, fears of intimacy or gender roles.
They keep their things fairly organized and try to avoid making a mess. But many kids and adults with ADHD are the opposite — they're messy most of the time. And it can cause problems at home, school, and work. For example, kids might miss a field trip because the permission slip got lost in their overflowing backpack.
Sometimes, a messy house can be a sign of hoarding disorder. Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition that causes people to accumulate an excessive amount of things with no real value. Some experts think it's related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), while others say it's related to dementia.
oinker (slang) pig [⇒ thesaurus] (figurative) ragtag. schlep.
But it's possible to make progress even if you're a naturally messy person! The trick is to take baby steps. Start small: Don't try to tackle your entire living space all at once. Instead, focus on one area at a time that's bugging you, such as the ironing pile or a messy drawer.
"If you're depressed or overwhelmed with life you may feel you don't have time to clean/organize, you may feel you don't deserve a clean space or you may be so preoccupied with other things you don't even notice how messy your room has become."
A messy desk and intelligence go hand in hand.
Look, if you also tend to leave a bit of a mess behind, there's good news for you. A study by the University of Minnesota suggests, that the messy desk of geniuses is actually linked to their intelligence.
Intelligent People Tend To Be Messy
So, if your room is a mess, don't be embarrassed. It allows your creativity to flow. A messy environment actually helps you to break the norm and come up with new ideas!
A messy space could indicate creativity or someone who is too busy but a messy space could also indicate further issues like anxiety or ADHD. Clutter and mess can consciously or unconsciously affect you mentally,' warns Jamie Hord, CEO, and founder of Horderly Professional Organizing.
Mess Equals Stress
In one study, women who saw their homes as cluttered had high levels of the stress hormone cortisol throughout the day, while those who described their abode as a well-organized, restful space had lower levels.
In fact, it is part of a growing body of research showing that clutter can contribute to stress, increased cortisol levels, and depression. Among teens and adolescents who live in clutter, the disorganized home environment is associated with lower academic performance and behavioral problems.
The problem is that children with ADHD struggle with executive functioning skills, which enable us to plan, prioritize, manage our time and get things done. It may seem simple to the rest of us, but they have trouble deciding what to do first, estimating how long things take, and staying focused.
It's not that those who are diagnosed with ADHD don't want to clean - they enjoy a clean space as much as the next person, but to get someone with ADHD to complete tasks that bore them is a feat in itself. What can you do to solve this problem? The best way to go about it is to take breaks!