Car Catharsis: The Mind-Clearing Magic of the Interior Detail

The relief of the interior detail – cleaning the inside of your car – can bring some mental clarity in a time of turmoil.

In these trying times, perhaps now even more than ever, it is important to find ways to mentally decompress.

The state of one’s surroundings, for example, can have an impact on one’s state of mind. Thus, for those of us who have returned somewhat to automotive normalcy – daily commutes, or perhaps simply grocery shopping and takeout orders –  our daily drivers are settings with the potential to influence our emotional states.

Put another way, a clean car can create a clear mind. The lack of physical clutter can help eliminate mental clutter. That’s the theory at least.

There pretty strong support, in fact, for the theory that a messy home can stress out its inhabitants. So it stands to reason that the same thing will apply to cars. Perhaps it’s time to consider the interior detail as a form of self-care.

We’ve all been there. Trash seems to find a way to accumulate in the car. Sometimes to an extreme degree. Kids have a particular knack for leaving wreckage in vehicles. Plus, dashboards get dusty, windows get smudged, and carpets get dirty.

The point here is that embracing your inner interior detailer can help relieve some stress. There’s the catharsis of finally throwing away all those old receipts, plus the joy of driving to work in a freshly cleaned, fresh-smelling car.

So break out the vacuum, grab some interior detailing spray and a microfiber cloth or two, and get to working on your car’s interior glow-up. Your mind will thank you. And take comfort in knowing that your car is one less thing to stress you out in a world that’s chock full of external stressors.