
I am doing the happy dance.
I have been on a cleaning/decluttering frenzy. It feels amazing. I can see my workspace. I know where my important papers are. I get to look at the smiling faces of my kids on the desk because their photos aren’t hidden by junk. I have more to do but I can see and FEEL the rewards of my efforts.
The Beautiful Not Yet
I have created space and with that space comes freedom.
My office space had become that room that held everything that didn’t have a “home”. My clothes closet had a split personality: part time closet and part time filing cabinet. It’s amazing how creative we can get with chairs and side tables.
I’d love to tell you this mess was a recent phenomenon, but the truth is this room had been this way for literally 4 + years.
4 years you say?
Yep.
I was able to ignore the problem (for a while.) I worked around the mess. I only needed to get into the closet twice a day. Who needs a desk when you can work at the kitchen table? So the stacks of paper are kind of high; so the bills get lost for a while. I had a system on my calendar and I knew when they needed tp be paid.
The truth?
My physical environment was stressing me out.
I did not share my stress with my family members – they have enough on their plate. I thought I could do this project alone. This seemed like a trivial issue- there’s so much suffering in the world.
This seemed like something I should have been able to be better at managing.
Sound familiar?
Maybe it’s getting on top of your sleep.
Maybe it’s learning how to tame the sugar gremlin.
Maybe your TIME is not your own and you want to take it back.
Maybe your office space has become the catch all room and your productivity is taking a nose dive.
Or, MAYBE, you do not know what is causing that niggly feeling, but you know YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL.
The almost but not yet. You are thinking of making a change but you do not know where to start.
Here’s some steps to get you back into the driver’s seat:
- Start with Compassion. For yourself. This is hard. Life is hard. You have a lot on your plate. Acknowledge this. Self compassion softens your emotional and PHYSICAL tension. With this softening, clarity is right behind.
- Choose ONE thing to start with. In my case, that meant clearing the floor. Is your first goal to start eating better? Are you noticing that the witching hour of 3:00 PM has become your cookie break? Start there.
- Know that changes do not happen overnight. Baby steps may feel small and insignificant but the truth is you can not start without them.
- Write it down. Get it out of your head and onto paper. This does not mean you have to write volumes in a journal. It can be as simple as putting it on a post-it note and posting it where you see it.
- Celebrate. I can’t stress one enough. Taking the time to be aware of your progress, no matter how slow, is critical for the positivity muscles to get stronger. These muscles are the ones that keep you going when the going gets tough.
- Get Help. I finally had to acknowledge something was keeping me from taking the first step so I hired an organizational coach. She helped me see through the chaos, break it into manageable steps, held me accountable, and reminded me often of my WHY this was important to me.
Spring is humming
Bits of something
A melody the simple part
A song that I once knew by heart
Juniper, wild indigo
Foxglove, lupine, Queen Ann’s lace
Will be coming any day
The restlessness
The quickening
The almost but
Not yet
Muddy boots, last year’s leaves
Every spring that came before
All they were and something more
The restlessness
The quickening
The almost but
Not yet
Do you see, do you see, do you see it
Take a breath
Oh, the restlessness
The beautiful not yet
There’s a stirring
There’s sweetness
At the edge of in between
I feel it nearly trembling
The restlessness
The quickening
The almost but
Not yet
-Carrie Newcomer