My sanity is tied to a clean room, tables, and chairs. I seriously find it hard to function well or think straight when there is no order in the house. An ordinary kitchen knife kept in a wrong place can get me upset. Everything must be kept in their proper places, and such orderliness keeps me satisfied and productive.
Growing up as a child, I didn't have the privilege to live in the best environment. As at that time I was always falling sick, getting myself and parents worried without knowing the causes of the frequent illnesses. On their own parts they did all they could to keep our environment clean, but there were some loopholes.
We lived in an environment where there were open gutters and culverts containing constant stagnant water. This is the condition with most houses in urban cities that are yet to be fully developed. They call these places by their local names as "ghetto." Running water is seen everywhere, as toilet pipes aren't properly taken care of, neither is the soakaway (septic tank).
The implication of this is that we had breeding grounds for mosquitoes, disease-causing insects, and others. Cockroaches could escape septic tanks and enter people's houses with all manner of ugliness. Malaria was frequent and a common sickness in the house. Hardly will a month pass without someone getting sick in my family. Personally, as someone with an existing health challenge and weak immunity, I was always down with malaria and infections.
My childhood days were centered around living in this not-too-healthy environment until a little bit of education and exposure taught me so much about how I can keep away the doctor by simple sanitation and cleaning of our environment.
Even though we kept the area around our own house clean from every form of dirt and stagnant water, the community itself has a poor sanitation management system, and one way or the other, things get to us.
The minute I got a little bit of funds as an adult, changing my location was a priority and first on my list. Gradually my income got better, and I could afford a better house. There are other better and cleaner environments around the town, and I didn't hesitate to move out to one of them. Ever since I moved into the new apartment about three years ago, the frequency of crisis and sickness has reduced.
I bought insect repellents and always keep a bag of detergent at home. Every dish must be kept clean, and no mosquitoes or other crawling insects that can cause illness are permitted in the house. The house is well constructed, and there is not a single stagnant water here unless for the rainy days when too much rainfall causes erosion and drenches the ground for days. Every form of pain trigger is now kept at bay with the cleaner environments.
I do hope that the conditions in different countries across the world will get better, especially in developing countries, so that they all can have proper structures of waste management systems for both domestic waste, drainages, and others. It is so sad to see that alot of places here still practice open air defecation. Making it easy for diseases to spread.
Perilous pestilence can find their roots and spread easily in dirty environments; hence, we must be mindful of sanitation and our environment. An unclean environment gets me infected, and an ordinary septicemia can cause me so much pain. This is the key reason I cannot manage to live in a dirty environment, not even for a month. Every location in the house must be kept clean, especially the toilets and kitchen, if I want to enjoy a healthy life.
My submission to daily inleo prompt.
The link for participation.
Images are Canva designed.