This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Clear Your Space...Clear Your Mind #10

The continuing story of a Professional Organizer and her adventures through space, reminding us that life is messy, you can never get it done, and you are not alone in all of it.

 

Chapter 6 ~ The Chi of It...continued

 

Find out what's happening in Winnetka-Glencoewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

     We live in a world more fast paced and high speed than ever before.  Information continuously and incessantly arrives in our mailboxes, virtual and otherwise.  The varieties of devices we procure, allowing us to communicate, are extensive and responding takes time.  What a commitment it is to selectively sift through your email.  What vigilance it commands to stay on top of it all.  That lovely little apparatus called the cell phone has no doubt changed how we connect with people more than any other mechanism developed.  Gone are the days when you go out for the afternoon and cannot be reached.  An outing used to provide you with time alone, or a chance to talk to your kids, a friend, your mate.  Our phones are now glued to our ears.  No conversation is sacred, unless you pay your therapist for that privilege.  

     I honestly thought I would never purchase a cell phone.  I declared it, “I will never get one of those.”  I had an aversion to being with someone when their cell phone rang.  All the intimacy of our interaction was immediately and abruptly brought to a halt, it felt rude and distracting.  I feared the capacity to have meaningful conversations would be lost for good. 

Find out what's happening in Winnetka-Glencoewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

     Then I bought one - okay, I lied.  I had to.  If I went to a client’s house, rang the doorbell and they didn’t answer, I was stuck.  What could I do?  Go to the nearby drugstore or gas station in search of a pay phone?  Which I did.  After a number of times needing to reach someone in the moment, hunting for a pay phone was impractical.  “I must buy a cell phone,” I moaned.  I couldn’t fight it.  Like purchasing my first computer, I had to adopt this technology thing.  I don’t even want to tell you all the cool things my cell phone does and how I love it.  I legitimately couldn’t live without it.  It accompanies me wherever I go - what was I thinking?

     Computers, cell phones, the internet, emails, Facebook, Twitter - all have changed how we communicate.  We are more efficient because of this technology, but it has added more “to dos” to our list of things we must check off on any given day.  I have clients who have hundreds of emails lingering in their mailbox or their voicemail.  There’s just no right way to deal with all the input, unless you’re willing to toss your phone in the river, which I highly doubt.  We are treading water here, is that the best we can do?

     Peter Walsh, Professional Organizer, Author and TV Celebrity, coined the phrase, “finishing the cycle”.  Finishing the cycle is understood when you think of a load of laundry.  The washing machine stops and if you don’t put the towels in the dryer, you end up with cold, wet, and moldy linens.  Finishing the cycle is important if you don’t want to waste your time repeating the task, or ruining your nice terrycloth.

     There is always something requiring our attention.  New clothes for the school year;  closets need to be gone through.  Taxes to complete;  filing systems need to be updated.  Birthday parties to plan;  toy rooms need to be purged.  Tick tick tick. Getting and staying organized is like a necessary chore.  It’s similar to grocery shopping, taking out the garbage, or doing the laundry.  It never stops.  You don’t do it once and then it’s done forever more.  No sooner do you finish one load then you have another in its place.  But if you’re like most of us, you are in the midst of numerous other tasks, all simultaneously piling up.

     What prevents us from finishing the cycle is the non-stop ticking of the clock.  It’s not always practical to complete the job when you must run out to pick up the kids, or the dry cleaning, or your husband.  Time is precious, tricky to negotiate, and elusive to hang onto.  It just continues to rush by - tick tick tick.  So step one is that you must accept you can never get it done.

     It’s natural: life happens.  As it does, the conditions of our homes, offices, and even cars, will reflect that.  All routine activities furnish us with lots of options to make a mess.  Getting out of bed in the morning creates a sea of blankets and pillows.  Cooking a meal requires copious amounts of dishes, pots, and pans.  In my house it takes longer to prepare supper than to eat it, and the kitchen is reminiscent of the nearby landfill.  Dressing often demands a half a dozen changes, all of which end up thrown on a chair or the floor.  Face it, you are not alone when it comes to making messes, life is messy, plain and simple. 

     We have to get comfortable with that.  If you don’t make peace with where you are, your own resistance will prevent you from moving forward to conquer or overcome old habits.  So if step one is to accept that you can never get it done, step two is to understand making messes is natural.  It comes with the territory of living in the physical world - it can be untidy.

     In an atmosphere where Professional Organizers have become the personal trainers of the new millennium, a certain amount of pressure is felt to get on top of your stuff, just be more organized, not to mention the cool things you can purchase to house it all.  But no one can decide for you what the motivation to begin might be.  I believe people want to get organized because at some point, they begin to suffer physical and emotional discomfort.  It can be quite over stimulating.  Bottom line, we all just want to feel good.  It’s feasible if you get control of your stuff, you will get control of your life.

     Cycling is a constant.  On a small scale, your day to day world has it’s patterns and routines, from making your bed to loading the dishwasher.  On a larger scale, the natural world has its rhythms and yardsticks too.  Weeks to months, months to years, all identifiable through the sequence of the seasons.

     These cycles generate internal moods and provide frameworks.  They affect our desire, need, or ability to deal with our stuff, and one thing is for certain, when spring arrives, there is an undeniable urge to purge. 

 

 to be continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?