Gunk builds up on the drive train of my bike over time.
It started pristinely clean, and dirt and grime collects, making the thing harder to pedal.
So I clean it, returning it to that original state. The cleaning takes time and effort, but is ultimately worth it.
Do we do that for our minds? Do we take the time to clean out our worries and messes that collect in our heads?
Sometimes small rocks get caught between chain links and tear apart the metal of my cassette and chain rings.
Then I have to replace the whole mess. That has a higher cost in time and effort. But sometimes similar things get stuck in our heads and we have to clear those out and rebuild our mental walls.