Environmental Wellness - Indoor Spaces

Let’s talk environmental wellness this week. The cold weather and barren trees don’t typically engender thoughts of the natural environment this time of year, but we have to remember that our indoor environment is important as well. As honors students, it can be too easy to ignore our surroundings in favor of studying hard and getting those grades. However, intensely prioritizing academic work over keeping our study environment clean and pleasant may be detrimental in the long run.

Your first thought may be, “with finals coming up, I don’t have that kind of time!” Of course, we’ve all been there. If you manage to find a free minute, a little tidying up may actually increase your studying efficiency since distractions are eliminated. If not, this doesn’t mean that you can’t start preparing for the future. After exams, if you have some time before leaving Clemson, some end-of-semester organization will make next semester a lot easier on you. I personally have some issues keeping my environment nice and neat, but with a little effort, I can get the job done. Here are a few tips to streamline the process:

1) Take it in sections. Often, we get overwhelmed by the large amount of tasks we have in front of us. By making a plan, you can focus your entire attention on each little part. I like to go room by room, starting in the kitchen, then my room, and ending in the bathroom. If you have roommates, it may be a good idea to get them involved in your plan, especially for common areas.

2) Ask yourself, “where does this belong?” A large source of disorganization is not having a designated location for certain objects. Many times, I have picked something up to put it away, only to realize that I don’t know what that means because there is nowhere else to put it. I end up putting it right back where it was. By assigning a spot to your belongings, you can get rid of this confusion and avoid the “shove everything in a closet” solution.

3) Make sure you really need your stuff. I tend to hoard belongings, telling myself that I will need them in the future. Sometimes this is true, but most of the time, objects are left sitting around for months. If you don’t really need something, it may be better to just get rid of the extra clutter.

Hopefully, this advice will be useful to you. Good luck on exams and enjoy the holidays!