It worked! I tidied out my office and now the former laundry room looks a tiny bit more like a respectable workspace! My previous post set myself a challenge to tidy out my room in three days https://theburdenofwings.com/2013/09/16/lying-will-help-you-do-the-housework/
My room used to look like this image below:
It wasn’t easy and the results are not spectacular but I’m happy. The biggest challenges? Sneaky bags filled with notes to myself, drawings from nieces and nephews and cards from loved ones. I sat and poured over them reading and remembering. It seems nostalgia is the enemy of tidiness. I came to a truce, deciding to only throw away papers that had zero sentimental value – although funnily enough even Visa card statements hold part of your narrative memory. I paid 12 euros a day for parking in my last job in Ireland, according to my old Visa statements. It seems mad but it’s there in black and white.
The lesson? If I have meaning, if the story moves me and excites me then I can get my teeth into any task and get it done. For me creativity is important so seeing creating space as a performance of creativity helps me find meaning in tidying. Clair commented that tidying her spaces helps her clear her thinking and so she finds meaning in tidying. Each of us will be motivated by a different story or value but if you find a good story to get you through, use it – it’s okay to lie to yourself if it gets the housework done.
Ed keeping an eye on the clean up
- Ed helping me tidy up
The burden of wings 
Love your post. I tend to get all sidetracked too, looking thru stuff while organizing and tidying. Takes extra long but makes it fun. Your helpers are down right adorable. I’m already in lust with Ed.
Thanks so much! Yes Ed is very very cute and handsome 🙂 I just realised he wasn’t helping me tidy he was carrying things BACK into the room! The dogs don’t like it when I tidy up 🙂
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