A tidy surface can be useful without becoming a judgment about the life around it.

Wiping a surface is a practical act that keeps getting promoted into a moral one. A clean worktop makes cooking easier and a clear desk makes starting easier, which is the whole benefit; it says nothing about whether a person is disciplined, worthy or in control. Treating tidiness as character makes mess into evidence, which is especially unfair when energy is short because of illness, small children or a hard month.

Tidy the one surface that would actually help you tomorrow and leave the rest. Notice if you start narrating what the mess means about you, and stop the sentence. The purpose is a working surface, not a verdict.