Heidi Hamm stopped tidying up after her husband asked her a very simple question.

Heidi Hamm, a mother of three, woke up one day and realised she was spending… oh… let’s say 98.6 per cent of her time tidying up after people.

Which is fine.

Except that it is absolutely not fine at all.

Hamm, a contributor to a blog titled Her View From Home, posted on Facebook, “For years I would spend a few minutes every night, cleaning up after my kids. I would hate to calculate just how many hours of my life have been spent picking up toys. A heck of a lot.

“I love a clean house,” Hamm concedes. And the thing about kids, is that they literally follow you around the house undoing all your work for at least the first 18 years of their lives.

“One night my husband found me on my hands and knees, colour coordinating the Lego. Did I mention I like things organised?” she writes.

“I was exhausted. Which is a common state for me.

“‘Why don’t you just shut the door?’ He asked.”

And, after she resisted the urge to yell/throw lego at him/divorce him on the spot, Hamm realised that those seven words were exactly what she needed.

Rather than cleaning her entire house, top to bottom, room by room, she just… closed the door.

“These days everybody is talking about how self care is so important when you’re a parent. And it is. It’s so easy to lose yourself in taking care of everyone else. But self care? Yeah, it’s not so easy. It takes time, and energy and asking for help,” Hamm continues.

“But sometimes? Self care is hiding a stash of chocolate bars and keeping them all for yourself.

“Self care is turning on Netflix for the kids so you can drink your coffee. Hot…

“Self care is closing a door.”

The Facebook status has attracted almost 1000 reactions, and has been shared hundreds of times.

Women from all over the world have responded to the advice, with many simply writing; "I needed this".

To every mum who hasn't seen the floor of their kid's room in six months, just close the door.

To every mum whose study looks like it's been ransacked by maniacal burglars, just close the door.

To every mum whose playroom could possibly be housing another human being and you honestly wouldn't know, just close the door. 

Take it from Heidi Hamm - that's what self care looks like.