Too neat, or not too neat…

There's an article that's been circulating on my Facebook feed all day.  It references "new" research that indicates that messy people may be more creative than neat freaks.  (Actually the research was published in 2013, but that's neither here nor there.)

I could be a little bit depressed by this, as I pretty much spent all day cleaning the house.  I have to report that there are NO SPOTS on my kitchen faucet.  We had take out for dinner just so I could enjoy the clean kitchen a little bit longer.  

I realized that this is a ritual cleansing.  One that I follow whenever I complete a project.  Last night I cut the purple Star of Bethlehem stole off the loom - today I cleaned.  

Entropy happens as I weave.  It's almost as if the energy spent organizing the threads in a carefully controlled over/under state must inevitably be accompanied by an increase in disorganization in my surroundings.  There are threads on the floor and more than a few pins.  Empty bobbins rattle around my worktable. There are dirty dishes in the sink and dust everywhere.

But when I'm done, I clean. Weaving tools are put away. Threads and the dust bunnies under the loom are vacuumed up. I cannot start or even think about my next project until this happens. 

If I rush it, if I charge into a new project with the mess of the old one still present in my space and in my mind, I become frustrated.  The tool that I need is not where it should be when I reach for it.   I step on a pin in my bare feet.  My dirty house depresses me, and I cannot create.

Everyone is different.  My husband seems to thrive in his messy study.  It's unfair, really, that I dragged him along in my cleaning frenzy.  But, in my defense, I don't make him clean his room.  

I'm sure it's a perfectly fine psychological study.  But a mess is not for me.  You can be creative in your mess if you want to.  But as for me, now that it's cooled off a bit, I'm going to go mop the kitchen floor.

My loom room is in an exceptionally neat state.