This is one piece of advice that stuck with me from reading The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. I often avoid it, seems lately I've been avoiding everything. But it does hold true. Sometimes the one thing that can get you motivated to get more things done is the power you feel when you complete a task that you've been staring at for a long time.
I had Miss Angel Baby's birthday party planned. I had to get my ducks in a row and dusted too in order to pull it off. So, I set off to tidy the boys rooms. Not fun... delegate! Sent the boys to clean their own rooms. I started to wipe the counter in the bathroom, then lost track of ... everything. Next thing I know I'm folding laundry and my mom is cleaning that bathroom. I had 8, yes EIGHT baskets of clean clothing lying around the house. And an insanely gross amount of clothes that were dirty and waiting to be cleaned. I still can't figure out how in the world there is that much left dirty when I have that many clean baskets. Turns out towels, blankets, sheets, and my own clothes fill that much.
For some completely unknown reason I decided to hang something in Angel Baby's closet. It has no bar. So I found a shower curtain rod that is adjustable and braced it in the closet.
Then... I looked DOWN.
In her closet the back wall is open on one side to the space under our stairs. We have those kind of stairs that are not solid, you can access that space through the stairs. (and my kids often do slip through to play underneath.) It was a nightmare. It is definitely a task I have been avoiding. We store things like suitcases and extra baby gates under there. Among other things. But it was more of a home to the local spiders and being that it's at our back entrance, it was also full of dust and dirt and sand and grass.
The boys are thrilled that I have cleaned this area up. First because they actually have room to play in there again. And second because I was able to retrieve about 35 Nerf darts that had been lost to the unknown under there.
Angel Baby is thrilled. Now there is only one small box stored in her closet and the clothes are all hanging nicely. She can sneak in and play under the stairs. It's like a newly found treasure for her. A great place to explore. Like Ariel's underwater cavern full of treasures. (She is so in love with The Little Mermaid right now). And yesterday it was also a great place to bring a pillow and blanket for a little rest where no one would bother her.
And I am overly thrilled.
My little 3 year old is physically going on 5. She is so tall, most of her clothes don't fit. I was getting pretty low and looking forward to her birthday when she gets a new batch of pretty little outfits. At the bottom of the piles of stuff in her closet was a box that has been there for years. It was passed on from a friend of a friend for my little girl when she was not even a year. This box is FULL of her size NOW. It was like finding a pot of gold. I swear. With this new found wardrobe and her birthday gifts, we are all set, all over again... at least until the next growth spurt.
There's been this little nagging voice in my head lately, gently (well, most of the time) pushing me to just DO something. Just get it done and the list gets shorter. But I fight it. I ignore it. I try to distract it. I pretend it WAS done... at least until I see it again. I don't find the strength to just DO anything. I end up burying myself in a pit of overwhelmed chaos, because it seems like SO. MUCH. WORK. It took just under an hour to get everything OUT from under the stairs. Then vacuum and put things back neatly which was less than 2 hours. And now the kids have spent about 15 hours playing there. Was it worth it? Hell yeah.
Some days I don't want to make dinner. Some days I don't want to get MYSELF dressed.
And some days are better. Some days I have a friend come by to visit. Some days I shower and fix my hair and make up just to take the kids to the library.
Some days I finish a dirty, dusty frustrating task.
And I feel empowered to keep going.
What's nagging at you?
Can you do it? Just start it?
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