Are you messy or neat?
Is your bed perpetually unmade? Are your closets crowded with long-forgotten odds and ends? Is your floor difficult to navigate without stepping on dirty T-shirts and old toys? Are your book bag and notebook so cluttered that it’s impossible to find a homework assignment without an hourlong search?
If so, have you ever been judged or shamed for your messiness? Do you ever feel pressure to be more organized? Or are you OK with a little clutter?
In “My Home Is Messy, and I Don’t Feel Bad About It,” KC Davis, with photographs by Eli Durst, writes about the relief and joy that come from embracing her messiness:
I’m a therapist who writes about housekeeping hacks for messy people. When I post videos about my home — a place where clean laundry is tossed unfolded into baskets and a giant trash can on wheels rolls around my kitchen — the comment section explodes with admonitions that I am lazy. My private inbox, however, is different. People often tell me my embrace of mess is revolutionizing their lives.
“Are you saying that I’m not a horrible person and that I’m not just making excuses?”
“I just found you and I’m already crying in relief that I’m not the only one.”
The world is harsh toward messy people. I get it. Not that long ago I thought the home of a mature, successful woman was a bright and airy haven, à la HGTV’s famous interior designer Joanna Gaines, one with made beds and clear countertops. Homes where all the stuff is neatly packed away into artfully labeled containers, and where there are no piles or smudges.
My home has never looked like that. For years, it felt as if I failed the aesthetic litmus test for being grown-up and put together. But four years ago, I accepted something that freed me and brought unexpected joy: I am messy.
Messiness ought to be celebrated. Instead, it’s a problem to solve, a bad habit to rectify, something to apologize for profusely when a visitor walks in. At best, you might forgive yourself or joke about your defect — your character flaw, really, since our culture associates messiness with laziness.
The essay continues:
The parts of my brain that allow me to produce handmade Renaissance costumes are the same parts responsible for a dining room bursting with fabric scraps and sewing supplies. It’s time we admit that what makes us shine can’t be divorced from what makes us scattered.
Science agrees. For example, people who have A.D.H.D. are often messy because their brains’ executive functioning center — the area that controls time management, focus shifting, memory and prioritization — operates differently from a typical brain’s. This atypical functioning can also create a higher level of divergent thinking and creativity, according to some research.
The often-repeated claim that clutter is harmful to one’s productivity and creativity may be wrong, as well. A University of Minnesota study tested the creative output of students working in a messy office space versus those working in a tidy one by asking them to imagine they worked at a Ping-Pong ball factory and had to come up with new uses for Ping-Pong balls. Participants in the messy room not only generated the same number of ideas as their clean-room counterparts, their ideas were also rated as more creative by independent judges.
To be sure, we messy people need to be considerate of others and provide a safe and sanitary environment for ourselves and our families. The good news is you can create an enjoyable, functional life as a messy person without becoming a neat one by using methods that work with your brain, not against it.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Are you a messy person? Or do you like to keep your home, your bedroom and your belongings neat, tidy and well organized? Describe your room and tell us whether you think it could use an organizational makeover or not.
Has being messy ever been an issue for you? How much effort do you put into keeping things neat? What strategies have you used that have been effective?
Ms. Davis writes that messiness is seen by our culture as a sign of laziness, a character flaw and a problem to be solved. Does that resonate with your own experiences? Have you ever been judged for being messy? Do you feel pressure to be more organized?
What do you think of Ms. Davis’s argument that messiness ought to be celebrated instead of shamed? What do you see as the benefits and downsides of being messy?
Is neatness overrated? Should we all embrace our messiness? How might your parents or teachers respond if you did?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
