Cleanliness can create mental breathing room without solving anything directly.

Cleaning a room does not resolve anything you were actually worried about. It does change the conditions you are worrying in, and the difference is real enough that people reach for it instinctively during hard periods. There is nothing false about that relief. The mind works better in a space that is not making demands on it.

When you feel stuck and cannot address the real problem, tidy something small and finite. Accept the improvement without expecting it to solve anything. Clear surroundings make the difficult thinking slightly more possible.