Redesigning My Life: a Beginning
I've said a lot of this before, but for my current purpose, it needs to be said again:
My life is a mess. I mean that both literally and figuratively. My apartment is a layered disaster. My office is worse (my apartment only has 3 years worth of one person's layers - my office has 15 years worth of at least 10 people's layers). Every book on organization that you might find at your local large-bookstore-chain could apply to my life. (except perhaps for financial organization, but we all know I'm ridiculously ahead of my own game in that area...) My closet is full of clothes I'm not fond of. My bookshelves are full of books that I've been meaning to read for years and never get around to. I have issues of Newsweek going back to March and issues of American Theatre Magazine going back to last February. Etc.
Beyond the materialistic issues - I'm not spending as much time as I'd like doing the things that I'd like, because I'm often spending too much time on things that really aren't that important, or that shouldn't take as long as they do.
(by the way, I don't believe that my concerns are unique. If one were to judge by the quantity of those books on organization mentioned above, it would seem that this is the new national trauma.)
And beyond all of these things - I'm not going anywhere. Not that I think someone always has to be going somewhere, but since I'm not particularly satisfied with where I am, I'd better try to get from here to somewhere else. Right?
So - having glanced through any number of paperback moneymakers on this subject, I think I've boiled down the useful wisdom to three basic principles, which I'll attempt to verbalize:
1) Figure out who you are, and what you want your life to be like. This includes how you dress, what you eat, how much you exercise, where you spend your days, who you spend your time with, and how you act upon the world.
2) Discard everything that doesn't fit with the above Give away the pants you hate. Stop eating that thing that makes you feel gross. Be nice to cleaning people and bus drivers.
3) Design/Reorganize/Arrange everything else to make it as easy as possible to be your ideal you in your ideal way Not every day is going to be a winner (neither is every meal), but being intentional in how you approach your days (and your underwear drawer) is going to be a lot more successful than reacting to the things that happen to you.
Having said all of that - books, life coaches, and similar things all seem to assume that you have the available cash to just throw out a lot of things and replace them. And, obviously, I don't. So the final principle I have to add is this:
4) Take your time
I've been thinking thoughts like these for over a year now. And I haven't made much progress yet. As of today, I think I'm going to dedicate this LiveJournal to my own exploration of what all this means to me. At least for the next couple of months.
My life is a mess. I mean that both literally and figuratively. My apartment is a layered disaster. My office is worse (my apartment only has 3 years worth of one person's layers - my office has 15 years worth of at least 10 people's layers). Every book on organization that you might find at your local large-bookstore-chain could apply to my life. (except perhaps for financial organization, but we all know I'm ridiculously ahead of my own game in that area...) My closet is full of clothes I'm not fond of. My bookshelves are full of books that I've been meaning to read for years and never get around to. I have issues of Newsweek going back to March and issues of American Theatre Magazine going back to last February. Etc.
Beyond the materialistic issues - I'm not spending as much time as I'd like doing the things that I'd like, because I'm often spending too much time on things that really aren't that important, or that shouldn't take as long as they do.
(by the way, I don't believe that my concerns are unique. If one were to judge by the quantity of those books on organization mentioned above, it would seem that this is the new national trauma.)
And beyond all of these things - I'm not going anywhere. Not that I think someone always has to be going somewhere, but since I'm not particularly satisfied with where I am, I'd better try to get from here to somewhere else. Right?
So - having glanced through any number of paperback moneymakers on this subject, I think I've boiled down the useful wisdom to three basic principles, which I'll attempt to verbalize:
1) Figure out who you are, and what you want your life to be like. This includes how you dress, what you eat, how much you exercise, where you spend your days, who you spend your time with, and how you act upon the world.
2) Discard everything that doesn't fit with the above Give away the pants you hate. Stop eating that thing that makes you feel gross. Be nice to cleaning people and bus drivers.
3) Design/Reorganize/Arrange everything else to make it as easy as possible to be your ideal you in your ideal way Not every day is going to be a winner (neither is every meal), but being intentional in how you approach your days (and your underwear drawer) is going to be a lot more successful than reacting to the things that happen to you.
Having said all of that - books, life coaches, and similar things all seem to assume that you have the available cash to just throw out a lot of things and replace them. And, obviously, I don't. So the final principle I have to add is this:
4) Take your time
I've been thinking thoughts like these for over a year now. And I haven't made much progress yet. As of today, I think I'm going to dedicate this LiveJournal to my own exploration of what all this means to me. At least for the next couple of months.