Over stimulation from environment... wow.

[ArtfulDodger]

Hi everyone,

It's years since I last visited this forum, but I've just come upon something which startled me and I wanted to put it out there to see if others had the same issue and/or advice.

Like most people with ADD, I am incredibly messy and disorganised. All of the rooms in my flat are/were piled up with stuff. But recently I managed to clear out absolutely everything from my bedroom and clean it. I was intending to put some of the stuff back when I was finished, but then I discovered something: When my room has no "stuff" in it, when it's just bare walls and carpets with a bed, cupboard and table with a few books, I feel very peaceful and happy in it, and much less confused and braincluttered than usual. In fact, it feels so much better that I have begun spending most of my time in the bedroom instead of the living room.

I'm 30, and this is the first time I've ever realised that my home environment was affecting me so much. I knew that I was exhausted and confused by busy, people-filled environments, because of all the "stuff" going on, but I hadn't realised that my home environment had been affecting me this way for my whole life. It's a big eye-opener.

The purpose of this thread is two-fold: one, if your house is like this, try clearing everything but essential furniture out of one of the rooms (even if you literally just shovel all the stuff into another room) and see if you too find yourself with a little calm oasis!
Two, do any of you experience any similar issues with your environment, and what do you do about it or how do you cope with being in such places? Now that I've realised what a difference it makes, I kind of can't stand being in busy rooms with lots of objects and patterns in them any more!