Reclaiming Your Mind One Mess at a Time - Day 5
Another busy day reclaiming my mind one mess at a time.
Sometimes life can get in the way of our goals. Take yesterday, for instance. I had what I call a "slow tick" day where I neurologically move and talk as if I'm conducting a water ballet in deep sea gear. I even had a loved one lose patience with me because I couldn't respond fast enough to their questions. I could get angry and bitter about that. I could get down. Certainly I have felt that way in the past. Last night, however, I made a conscious effort to avoid that mental trap. It was a slow and ponderous effort, like glaciers racing across a continent, but it was an effort that was ultimately successful. I simply chose to not take their impatience personally.
When I finally came out of the tick hours later, my day was long over. I had missed my daily deadline to clean and blog about it. I hadn't worked on my latest manuscript. I hadn't drawn. The last thing I wanted to do was clean. I felt foggy headed, out of focus, and rudderless. Hey, wait a minute! That's exactly what the stupid cleaning project is supposed to target. By cleaning a little, I organize my mind a lot. You don't think I actually like cleaning, do you? I bet you've got me pictured in your mind dressed up like Hazel, humming Cinderella's cleaning tune, and talking to my messes. C'mon, admit it. The truth is I dress up like Rambo and crank tecktonik in my ears. Then I attack the mess like I'm storming Normandy. It's the only way I can tackle these boring projects.
Today's project, or yesterday's project, or the project that I finally got around to this morning at 1am when I was supposed to be asleep, was/is the storage shelves in the kitchen. I kept in mind I wasn't deep cleaning but only tidying, happily tossed out mismatched containers, used copious amount of Windex and voilà! I was done in 30 minutes.
Join me each day this week and comment here when you finish. Spread the word. Let's get a whole bunch of us filling up landfills across the world*. The trick is to pick a small pile that can be polished off in one quick session. Most of my readers are dealing with Depression, AD/HD, or both so beginning yet another unfinished project brings a lot of emotional baggage. Start small and congratulate yourself on success. Know your limits, but push to expand them, and always remember "When in doubt, throw it out."
Day One (Corner of Car Junk)
Day Two (Camera Box)
Day Three (Photo Box from Hell)
Day Four (The Easy Peasy Refrigerator Top)
Day Five (Kitchen Storage Shelves)
Day Six (Studio)
Day Seven (PC Junk Box)
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Sometimes life can get in the way of our goals. Take yesterday, for instance. I had what I call a "slow tick" day where I neurologically move and talk as if I'm conducting a water ballet in deep sea gear. I even had a loved one lose patience with me because I couldn't respond fast enough to their questions. I could get angry and bitter about that. I could get down. Certainly I have felt that way in the past. Last night, however, I made a conscious effort to avoid that mental trap. It was a slow and ponderous effort, like glaciers racing across a continent, but it was an effort that was ultimately successful. I simply chose to not take their impatience personally. When I finally came out of the tick hours later, my day was long over. I had missed my daily deadline to clean and blog about it. I hadn't worked on my latest manuscript. I hadn't drawn. The last thing I wanted to do was clean. I felt foggy headed, out of focus, and rudderless. Hey, wait a minute! That's exactly what the stupid cleaning project is supposed to target. By cleaning a little, I organize my mind a lot. You don't think I actually like cleaning, do you? I bet you've got me pictured in your mind dressed up like Hazel, humming Cinderella's cleaning tune, and talking to my messes. C'mon, admit it. The truth is I dress up like Rambo and crank tecktonik in my ears. Then I attack the mess like I'm storming Normandy. It's the only way I can tackle these boring projects.
Today's project, or yesterday's project, or the project that I finally got around to this morning at 1am when I was supposed to be asleep, was/is the storage shelves in the kitchen. I kept in mind I wasn't deep cleaning but only tidying, happily tossed out mismatched containers, used copious amount of Windex and voilà! I was done in 30 minutes. Join me each day this week and comment here when you finish. Spread the word. Let's get a whole bunch of us filling up landfills across the world*. The trick is to pick a small pile that can be polished off in one quick session. Most of my readers are dealing with Depression, AD/HD, or both so beginning yet another unfinished project brings a lot of emotional baggage. Start small and congratulate yourself on success. Know your limits, but push to expand them, and always remember "When in doubt, throw it out."
Day One (Corner of Car Junk)
Day Two (Camera Box)
Day Three (Photo Box from Hell)
Day Four (The Easy Peasy Refrigerator Top)
Day Five (Kitchen Storage Shelves)
Day Six (Studio)
Day Seven (PC Junk Box)
Like reading The Splintered Mind? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe!
Comments
To think it's been almost 20 years since I used to sit behind you in church and watch you draw pictures of cars.
Then I had the pleasure of leading the music while your wife played the organ. She amazed me with her ability to play while singing along -- in Spanish!
Then those fun anime parties at your apartment.
We still quote your baby announcement for your third where you listed everyone's choices for names. One was "Sparkly Princess Barbie Fairy" or something like that.
Again, love the blog! I think I'll go put away the mail now I'm so inspired!!!