Sometimes, I write a blog, and never publish it. I read it, and it sounds boring, or too personal, or too big, or too much like a decorating lesson. That's what happened this week; I wrote two, and I liked them, but they just didn't feel right. It was a Goldilocks moment.
I'm not silly, I knew why nothing was working; it was because my office was a diabolical mess. Motivated by the conference that I attended a couple of weeks ago, I had decided to reorganize. What began as a simple clean out, turned into this avalanche of ideas scribbled on bits of paper (lots of them, that I didn't even know I had) countless pages torn from magazines, files that no longer made sense, two old keyboards, a small television that I had forgotten about in the closet (don't ask - the box isn't even opened) and a pile of cardboard airplanes from when my daughter was in pre-school.
Impatient to get going, I did the classic mistake of trying to do it all at once. And, I got distracted. Opening a drawer revealed a pile of decorating goodies that I didn't even know I had, and more notebooks than I could count (well, there were nine actually). They are very pretty, but I tend to use the same, spiral-bound 79 cent notebook for most things; I like it's size, the space of the lines, and the ease of turning over the pages. In this case, function trumps beauty, and I know the pretty notebooks would be happier living somewhere else.
It's been a few days since I started, and I am finally seeing my serene, creative office space again. I realize it is a little bit like the cobbler's children having no shoes (do children even know what cobbler's are anymore?); I am great at organizing (really) and know what I should be doing, but when life gets busy, my office is usually the first place to suffer. I tell myself I can work around it, but I really can't; I juggle for space on my desk, and my thoughts become as scattered as coffee cups.
This happens to us all at some time or another; it feels okay for a while, then you turn around, and you wonder what the heck happened. You swear it happened overnight, but it didn't, you just forgot to notice.
When this happens, which is normal by the way, here is my strategy for coping.....
- I panic.
- Close the door, go downstairs and make a cup of tea.
- Sit in the sunroom, drink tea and look at the trees.
- Make a list of absolutely everything I need (and want) to do.
- Give myself a realistic, generous, time limit.
- Turn on some really loud music.
- Grab a couple of garbage bags, and a box for miscellaneous things.
- Put on comfy, old clothes and bare feet.
- Begin.
- Add more music and tea as needed.
- Stop when I am done.
It's not complicated really, just feels like it for a moment....
p.s. The photograph above is one of the inspiration boards in my office.
2 comments:
I can relate to this post! Sometimes I sit down with the intention of writing about one thing and something else gets written on the page. I, too, am sitting on a mound of papers that are finally dwindling down. I'm crossing more things off my to-do lists (although there's always something, right). And I love the days that I can pull off a complete purge. It feels so good to get rid of "stuff". If an idea hasn't come to fruition, it goes into the circular file because there just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done.
Great post, Wendy!
Thank you, Kim! So nice to know I am not the only one :-)
After last weeks messy desk story I really got stuck in and organized/purged my office. Was amazed at how irrelevant some of my papers had become, and so glad to get it out of my room.
Made this week far more productive. Can't say it won't happen again, but it was a good reminder that I need to reevaluate my "stuff" more often.
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