Tasks that Soothe

I’m back. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted…I think there has only been one blog post this summer.

Not what I had planned. Friends and colleagues had commented earlier in the year: “Wow, how are you able to write and post twice a week???” I would smugly answer, “Oh, it’s easy, and it doesn’t take long”….

Well. My day-job workload, as a health care interior designer, exploded late June and I found myself working on two huge projects. I loved them both, and they provided an opportunity to do the best work ever in my career…but they were all consuming. Add in a summer cold that seems to have lasted 8 weeks. Hmm…there go the ambitious writing plans…and most daily upkeep tasks! For the last three months I have pretty well worked 12-16 hour days, 7 days a week.

The projects finished last week, and I got away for Thanksgiving. I’m now at home, trying to unwind and wanting so much to get back to my favorite pursuits: finishing the book, blogging, getting healthy again.

I did sneak in a few books in between the chaos, and a special one was Marie Kondo’s “the life-changing magic of tidying up”. It was a quick, happy read and I really enjoyed it.

This young lady has a consulting business in Japan and guides people through her method of organizing their homes and possessions. I won’t go into great detail – you should read the book! – but I will note:

She believes that you must de-clutter and reduce your possessions before you can re-organize, otherwise you are just shuffling around what you have. (And she maintains we all have too much!)

Her one key suggestion to assist in the reducing and purging of superfluous possessions is:

KEEP ONLY THINGS THAT SPARK JOY.

She offers suggestions on how to tackle this: Don’t go room by room, but pick a type/group of items and purge that item throughout your complete space: (clothes, books, CD’s, mementos…) I think she’s spot on in saying you should start with the less precious or less rare items: clothes are easier to get rid of than family photos. Work your way up to the tough ones!

When I read the book in the middle of my crazy work time, I thought: I want to do this when I’m free again! So, the other morning, fresh from my weekend break, I tackled my clothes. If I didn’t love it, it went into a pile to offer to friends to pick through or one marked for donating. It didn’t matter if it was new, valuable or in good condition, if I didn’t love it, it was gone.

I got rid of 30% of my clothes and the closets can breathe again! That felt so good I moved on to my dresser drawers and the extra clothes in storage in the basement. I felt cleansed and renewed; tidier and more organized already. It was a wonderful soothing, re-grouping exercise.

Books are next week’s target….