HOW DO YOU RESIST IT? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 139

Most of my life I have known that I have a very short attention span.  When I was growing up no one knew anything about ADHD, and I doubt I would have been diagnosed with it.  I was able to behave myself in school and in Brownies/Girl Scouts, and Choir practice.  I loved being busy, and fortunately in school there were enough subjects to hold my interest and homework was not as voluminous as it seems to be for today's children.  My career was great because I was promoted 11 times in the 20 years I worked for one company.  I found I was very good at cleaning up other people's messes, making their departments run very smoothly, and selecting good people for job openings.  Just as I would get things going very well I would be offered another promotion because I was very results oriented.  I never was bored in my jobs and went on to a new one before boredom could occur.

In my personal life I was interested in many hobbies and started many things that I never finished. I found I would get bored with the project before it was completed.  I did not discipline myself to finish one project before allowing myself to start another one.  I would blame this on not having enough time because of my jobs or because of my children needing more of my time.  Then the children grew up and did not need me anymore so my excuse became lack of time due to more demanding positions.

The first red flag appeared when my older sister was getting married, and I was going to crochet an afghan for the new couple.  I started it and tried numerous times to get back to it.  She is now married for the third time, and her husband is 94 and she is 79.  They have been married 35 years, and she still has never received a finished afghan from me.  I married, had children, moved a number of times, divorced my husband, and still never finished the afghan.  In fact, it somehow got stored in the attic of a brand new house and mice came in out of the cold winter and chewed much of the yarn.  It then went into the garbage.

I am sorry to admit that I have numerous UFO's (unfinished objects) in bags, boxes, closets, and even the garage.  Every week I tell myself that this should be the week that I finish at least one item.  I do manage to take one out of a bag or box, but somehow it ends up still unfinished on one of the beds in my guest room (which is currently covered with many projects).  I do plan to finish them, but my attention span is short so it may take awhile to get them finished.

I would love to hear from any of you as to how you

RESIST BOREDOM

The Way We Always Do Things

If you have been following my blog you know that the past several months have not been typical for me.  I was diagnosed with cancer in May, had surgery in June, and have been recovering slowly but surely.  Being very blessed to not need chemotherapy or radiation, I still have not regained my energy or stamina which I allowed to prevent me from doing certain things.  That being said, I decided that I needed to downsize expectations of myself until my energy is at my former level (assuming it will be someday).

My tendency to be a pack rat was exacerbated during my time of illness when I was just stashing things wherever I found a space which caused me to not be able to find things.  Although there have been many times in my life when I could clean closets, dressers, chests, desks, and cupboards in a day..............not so now...............instead I had to break down each project into smaller segments.  I have taken one side of a closet to clean one day and the other side on another day.  I have cleaned several drawers in a day and then several more on subsequent days.  I can happily report that my desks, armoire, closets, dressers, nightstands, and some cupboards are now clean and reorganized (of course, lots of the things removed have been carried out to my garage for future handling when the temperatures are no longer in excess of 100 degrees).

The point of this blog post is to tell you that even when we are unable to do things the way they have always been done, we can find other ways to do them albeit more slowly.  The results are just as rewarding as it is a wonderful feeling to open a drawer or closet and immediately see the item(s) I need. When the organization experts tell us to make three piles (things to keep, things to discard, things to donate) they are absolutely right.  I also followed their advice and turned all of the hangers in my bedroom closet so the hooks face outward.  As items are worn, laundered or dry cleaned and rehung, the hooks are turned to face the back of the closet indicating that the garments have been worn.  At the end of a season or a year the items on hangers with hooks still facing outward will become things to donate (although I sometimes delude myself thinking that things which no longer fit me will someday by magic again fit me).

Now I am spending less time searching for things.  I am going to give books to the local library; I am going to deliver clothing and household items to local charities; and  I am going to tackle kitchen cabinets and drawers in the coming weeks.  By the time I finish those it should be cool enough to tackle cleaning out the garage.............I  will try very hard to discipline myself to keep everything organized, but I make no promises.