Mess And Messybility

I’ll cut to the chase on this one: I am a mess.

My personal “style” can be described as scruffy (and less politely as “homeless”, although at least I shower every day). My desk at home is a pile of stuff that exists in a constant state of near-landslide. In fact, here’s a photo that I posted on my personal blog a while back. See?

Obviously, there are up-sides to being a mess, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. On the other hand, there are also a few serious negatives. This calls for some kind of list, under a series of “clever” headings.

At Least It’s Easy

This is the most straight-forward explanation for mess. It’s less effort than being tidy. I stress, it’s not that I look at the clutter and nod approvingly. It’s more that… I put all my energy into doing my daily tasks, hitting self-imposed writing deadlines, and achieving a basic level of survival. Adding in hours of tidying would mean other things would suffer.

I generally whip myself silly staying up late and getting to work on time, plus going to the pub a few times a week. Once I’ve done all this, I may have a spell of time left in which I could, theoretically, do some tidying or get more regular haircuts. However, by then, I really do think “Yeah, I can’t be bothered”.

There are people out there who have incredibly busy lives and yet manage to remain very very tidy. I envy them their focus. However, I am happy to note that one stereotype for writers/creative types is to be scatty and messy. So at least there is precedent I can cite.

People Might Judge You

Unfortunately, some don’t have a good view of messy people. You might be one of them yourself; if you read the previous section whilst tutting and feeling unconvinced, then it is possible. If so, I doubt anything I can say will change your mind.

It is a deep-rooted personal preference, a brain setting flicked early in life. I’m not necessarily saying that everyone who has a problem with the untidy is an OCD sufferer, but regardless, there’s often little to be done about it. And, depending on how much weight their opinion holds, you can either make an effort to appear organised for them, or just let them stew.

This may not sound like I’m making much effort to argue my side, but I don’t really see that as my purpose in this case. After all, who is going to suddenly decide to start living in a mess due to the persuasive force of some blog entry on the internet? You either got it or you don’t.

Beyond Mere Physical Clutter

Having an untidy desk is only the tip of the iceberg, though. The truly “messy” individual will not only have crap cluttering up their living space, but will adopt it as a state of mind. Perpetually confused, constantly disorganised, often forgetful? Scatty to the nth degree?

Hi there. Pleased to meet you. We may have something in common. I suspect a future entry may discuss this in more detail. For now, let’s just live happily in our own special way, be that tidy or messy.