Fungus Among Us (and still, I didn't clean it)
On Knowing Better, Doing Nothing, and the Battle for My Micro Environment
If you’ve never visited Salt Lake City, Utah, then you might not know that it’s a high mountain desert. You’ll quickly realise it is after an incredibly dry few days, when your nasal mucosa is fully crispy from the lack of humidity, and the nosebleeds start. Oh, did I mention the flat hair and cracking skin? Fun times.
This is where I lived for about a third of my life so imagine how different it felt to move to the northeastern coast of Australia - think tropics, rainforest, and an incredibly long wet season.
I learned more about mould that I ever thought possible there, but after twelve years in a place with two seasons - hot and dry and hot and wet - I moved to a more temperate part of the continent to experience a more varied climate.
Well… joke’s on me. With the increasing changes due to the climate crisis, we have had several years of unusually whackadoodle wet weather and this year the heavens refused to close. The upshot of this was that inside my little wooden house mould strongly made its presence known.
The Effects of Mould
This is from the very, very official sounding Environmental Health Standing Committee (enHealth) of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee
“Mould is a type of fungus that grows in moist or humid places. It occurs naturally in the environment and can be found almost anywhere, including in garden composts and on decaying or damp organic material, and food. Indoors, mould grows best in damp and poorly ventilated areas, typically on wood, plasterboard, tile grout and furnishings. Common causes of mould growth indoors include: leaking roofs and walls, faulty plumbing, and condensation.”
We mostly ingest mould through breathing and swallowing and it does have health risks. The presence of mould can make allergies worse and contact with it can irritate skin and eyes. It can also cause sneezing and wheezing and coughing, oh my!
There is hefty evidence1 that the presence of mould contributes to an increase in asthma rates and that people with already compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for respiratory problems due to mould exposure.
So… You’d think it’d be safe to say that if one noticed mould in their house and hmmm, if said person had maybe previously been diagnosed with asthma and, were also actually allergic to mould, then they’d be motivated to clean it up quick smart.
You’d think…
Mould spores are everywhere but what does mould like to visibly hang on to in my house? I.e. where does it manifest as a sage green or sometimes whitish-grey fuzz? A couple of pieces of old furniture, the walls inside my closet, my husband’s leather boots, and my leather purses.
How long did it take me to clean out my dresser, empty my closet, de-mould the furniture, and wipe down the leather goods? You don’t want to know.
What’s Wrong With Me?
So, here’s the deal, one of my Pillars of Health is your Micro Environment.
That’s the environment that you can control around you and includes:
Food (we are what we eat)
Cleaning products
Fresh Air
Sunshine
Our Interior Space (our homes)
Smoking (and second hand smoke)
Medications (specifically their unwanted side effects)
Technology
Stress (it's everywhere)
So, when I know that the state of my interior space needs to positively support my quest for higher Vibrancy… when I know cleaning up the mould is necessary for my health… and when I know it is something relatively easy to do…
The question is: Why am I the Procrastination Queen?
The answer? I don’t think I’ll ever fully know.
What I do know is what got me off my distracted lard ass to finish the job I had half heartedly started was an external motivator.
The external motivator? My friend, Karen. She asked if she could come up and stay over the weekend and of course, since I love her and don’t get to see her often enough, I said, “YES”.
The guest bed was my staging area dumping ground for everything I’d pulled out of my closet and dresser to “deal with” as I was oh so slowly deciding on when operation Mould Removal was going to ramp up. Oh my holy hell, I now had a deadline which gave me the much needed motivation to get on with it.
You’ll be pleased to know that I was kinda’, sorta’, almost finished when K rocked up late Saturday arvo but I did eventually get it done! (as a bonus I also did a mini purge of ye olde closet)
Guess what?
As suspected clearing my house of mould wasn’t that hard and if I hadn’t been faffing about wouldn’t have even taken that much time!
I will leave you with three things:
Sometimes we can’t worry about where motivation comes from but can just be thankful that it eventually shows up. Once it does, harness it and get those pesky projects done.
Your micro environment matters!
And since cleaning products are part of your micro environment here’s my recipe for a non-toxic Mould Remover:
In a glass spray bottle combine
1/3 C vinegar
1/3 C water (distilled or some that you’ve boiled and let cool, but tbh I often times am lazy so just use tap water)
10 drops of oil of clove (I used to hate the smell but it’s grown on me)
4 drops of tea tree oil.
Spray on surface of mouldy item, leave for an hour or two and wipe off. If items are portable like shoes, etc. put them in the sun.
Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next time,
xBec
P.S. Got any great procrastination stories where an outside motivator was the only thing that helped you tackle a project? Let me know in the comments
P.P.S Missed last week’s podcast drop? It’s a book review on the 10 traits that creative people have in spades. Check it out👇
Cox-Ganser JM. Indoor dampness and mould health effects - ongoing questions on microbial exposures and allergic versus nonallergic mechanisms. Clin Exp Allergy. 2015 Oct;45(10):1478-82. doi: 10.1111/cea.12601. PMID: 26372722; PMCID: PMC4667360.