Plans
Last month I had plans to do some work in the living room. I wanted to figure out what to do about books, magazines, and random items always gathering on the tables, so there is no place to put our refreshing beverages†. Realize that just putting the magazines and random items away wouldn’t fix this. I needed to figure out why they kept on gathering there in the first place, and what I could do about it.
What Really Happened
Monday night, karate was pretty intense, so I rested afterward. Tuesday I did a quick clean up in the living room but didn’t have time to think about the random items.
Wednesday the compost was having issues and it needed some labor-intensive care, and I watched the VP debate. (This was originally written in early October). Thursday we were getting ready for a weekend trip. It was a long, but quick, trip to honor a friend of my wife’s.
Friday we drove out to West Texas; Saturday, hiked the trail in honor of the friend; and Sunday we drove back home.
The drive back was 8 hours long, and we were happy to see our dog. We put almost everything away from the trip. Then that same night, our lovable elderly dog developed this huge swelling on the side of his throat. It was large enough that we decided not to wait until morning.
We drove him to the emergency vet and had to wait outside for several hours (because of precautionary measures due to COVID-19) until they took some samples and gave us some antibiotics.
It was just exhausting.
I had Monday off work. I took a look back at my to-do list for the previous week, and there it was: Figure out stuff on LR tables.
Don’t “Should” Yourself
Sigh. I should work on that, I thought. But you know what? I needed a break. My body was tired, my brain was tired. I was worried about the dog. Sometimes you just need to be easy on yourself, and this was one of those times.
Some things are more important than tidying up or cleaning. Our pet is more important. My mental health and self-care are more important. My wife is precious to me. And telling myself I “should” do something just piles on the guilt and that doesn’t help.
I know that getting the house in order – by getting rid of unnecessary things – will make my life easier and more serene. I’m committed to decluttering. I’m fortunate that I’m not required to do it on any particular schedule.
What Next?
I will need to make decluttering a focus for a period of time. Experience informs me that I need a rough plan and a commitment to get a task like this done. Being rigid, though, will just cause me stress that won’t help me get it down.
†This is one of the things Sheldon says on the The Big Bang Theory when he is trying to be hospitable. Sort of nerdy, I guess. 🙂
Featured Image: “Blackboard Calendar A 12” by thecmn is marked with CC PDM 1.0
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