EP 17: My Life Got Better When I Finally Cleaned My Room | The Small Habits That Changed Everything

A clean room isn't supposed to change your life. But for Harper, it kind of did.
In this episode of Rarely Said, Harper talks about the surprisingly simple habit that helped her feel more motivated, productive, and in control of her life. What started as cleaning her room turned into waking up earlier, working out more, eating better, and taking better care of herself overall.
This isn't one of those "perfect morning routine" episodes. Harper gets honest about the healthy habits she's built, the unhealthy habits she's still working on, and why balance matters more than perfection.
We talk about:
• How cleaning her room changed her mindset• Why your environment affects your motivation more than you think• Building a routine that actually feels realistic• Working out, eating healthier, and staying hydrated• The skincare habits she's trying to stay consistent with• Why therapy has become an important part of her routine• Learning to balance healthy choices with real life
You don't have to completely reinvent yourself overnight.
Sometimes the biggest changes start with something as simple as making your bed, cleaning your room, or drinking more water.
If you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or waiting for motivation to magically appear, this episode might be the reminder you needed. Let me know in the comments what healthy habit has made the biggest difference in your life. 👇

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to Rearly Said, the podcast where we talk about what everyone feels but not everyone says. I'm your host, Harper, and I'm so excited you're here. Today we're gonna talk about my healthy habits and probably some of my unhealthy habits too. You know, I feel like recently I've been a lot better about like having healthy habits and having a routine, but that's literally only because I deep cleaned my room like a month ago, and I have like a really weird thing when my room's dirty. I feel like I can't get anything done. Like I basically just have to lay in bed all day and be lazy. But ever since I clean my room, it's been easier for me to wake up in the morning. Working out feels a lot easier, just doing everything feels like a lot easier to me. Now that I have my room cleaned, I definitely have a lot of healthier habits. I try to wake up. Well, I try to leave for school around like 7:15. So I usually try to wake up at 6.30, but sometimes I wake up at 7 if I'm really tired. And I also try to work out pretty frequently, like three times a week, and I have a workout class I like. Shout out the full routine, it's amazing. Those are like my two hardest things that I try to work on, especially eating two is always really hard for me. But I've been trying to eat a lot healthier. I think it's just hard when you're in such a rush, like you just want to grab Chick-fil-A in and out. Those are my uh guilty pleasures. But coming home and like making a good meal, I actually feel better and I feel more ready to work out, and I just like feel better overall, and also a lot of things hurt my stomach. So if I eat Chick-fil-A in and out, you probably won't see me the rest of the day because I'll be struggling with a stomachache. Another thing I actually am very, very good about is drinking a lot of water. I have a really cute um Love Shack Fancy Stanley, and it makes me want to drink water, and I put chlorophyll in my water too, which actually tastes good. It tastes like mitt and lemon, and I really like it. I try to get a lot of sleep, it doesn't really work that well because I usually stay up on the phone or doing homework so I don't get a lot of sleep at all. But I still try to wake up and do all my stuff on the weekends though, on the weekends I definitely get a lot of sleep. I obviously have like my skincare routine and stuff that I keep up on. Well, I try my best to keep up on. If I'm really tired, I'll just go to bed. Not with my makeup on though. I always wash my makeup off. That I think that's disgusting. Do my skincare every night mostly. I think some people like I try to balance my health, but I'm not like obsessed with it. Like if I want to have a sweet treat, I'm gonna go to Yogurtland and get ice cream. I'm not like, oh my god, you can't eat this, you can't do that. I definitely give myself cheat days. I'm obviously still a teenager, so it's not like I'm obsessing over like what I'm eating and the calories I'm having. Like, okay, we all have good metas metabolisms at this age, so I think it's good you should eat ice cream more often, like me, even though it hurts my stomach really bad. As far as my mental health goes, I feel like my only thing I really do is talk to my therapist weekly, and that helps. And we do different exercises together. I don't really do anything else. I know people are like, oh, journal. I don't like journaling. I rather not write my feelings down. I feel like I don't know why. I just don't like to do that. But I do think like the small habits make the biggest differences for me. Like, even just like waking up in the morning and making my coffee and eating my breakfast. My favorite breakfast is an egg burrito. Just egg and a tortilla, and I put some cholula, it's pretty good, and that keeps me full for a while too. Cause I don't really like to eat the food at my school. If I do, it's usually when they have like Mexican bowls, because I think those are really good and they taste like chipotle. But I'm not gonna like go eat pizza. Actually, I do eat the cookies though. The cookies at my school are really good. There's three in a pack, and I usually eat all three when I get them. They're so good though. But I do think, yeah, the smallest habits make the big difference for me, like having my skincare routine that I stick to, drinking my water, waking up at mostly the same time every day, eating my one breakfast I like. I think those things really help. And obviously, trying to work out consistently and keep my room clean. That's like my biggest thing. It's so hard for me to keep my room clean. So even like right now, it's like kind of messy, even though the cleaning lady came on Friday, but I just like have my makeup everywhere all over my vanity, and I need to put clothes away. And then it might be a little bit better, but I think those are my healthy habits and things I'm also still working on. Let me know in the comments what your favorite healthy habits are that you try to stick to. If you're listening and you already feel seen, then this podcast is doing its job. You don't have to have your life figured out to be here. Just noticing is enough. Thank you. Talk to you again soon.