Last week I started writing up my organizing journey from it’s very beginnings in the fall of 2004. Since the continuation of my entryway project now rests on things beyond my control (like somebody buying my bike and my clothes), I’ve decided to spend a few posts continuing that story. Today’s post isn’t about taking physical action. You can do it all in your head while sitting on the couch. It’s nonetheless a crucially important part of my process and I never would have gotten off the ground without it.
When I left off, I had read Julie Morgenstern’s book “Organizing From the Inside Out”. In spite of my initial skepticism, I finished her book having learned something very, very important: I wasn’t as disorganized as I thought. In contrast to every other book and article I’d ever read, Morgenstern’s “Inside Out” philosophy begins with what’s already working.
It took awhile for that to sink in. What’s already working? In my life? In my home? Please. Try “nothing”.
But, having read that question, I could not unread it. The thought stayed with me, and after a while, I realized that I did not, in fact “always lose everything”. For instance, I rarely misplaced my keys and never misplaced my wallet because they always got put back in the same place.
I also realized that in spite of being extremely cluttered, I could usually, eventually, find what I was looking for. Yes, it’s true, everything I owned was stacked up in piles all over my house. Why? Was it because I’m a horrible, careless, hopelessly disorganized person like my fourth grade teacher said I was? No. My stuff was out in the open because that’s where I could see it. Like a lot of others with ADD, I’m an “out of sight, out of mind” type of person.
Did I spend more time than I liked looking for my stuff? Yes. Was my clutter driving me up a wall? Absolutely. Was the chronically disorganized state of my house exacerbating my asthma and allergy problems? Definitely. But it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Thank the gods for that, because it looked terrible; but it looked terrible because it was actually borderline functional.
Suddenly, this transformed my problem from “I’ve always been a horrible disorganized mess and I can never change” to “I’m a visual person who needs to declutter, and then implement solutions that allow me to contain my stuff where I can see it”. Compare those two thoughts. Which task sounds more manageable? Which person would you rather be?
I slowly put down my book and went to my computer. I e-mailed Jana: “I don’t want to get your hopes up … and I especially don’t want to get MY hopes up … but I think, just maybe, I can do this.”