One brave man
A couple of weeks ago, I was getting thoroughly fed up with my lack of progress. and wanted to try something different. The conversation went something like this:
me: I know! Let’s do this, you stand in the doorway with some empty boxes and I’ll throw things at you!
JD: Umm…. okaayy….?
me: No, really, it’ll be fun!
Okay, I confess, I didn’t really throw things at him. Mostly I handed them over, or gently tossed them in his direction if I couldn’t reach that far. Really.
We’ve done this for two weeks running now – him in the studio doorway with boxes, me knee-deep in clutter, and it really is working! And he hasn’t suffered any lasting injury. At least not physical injury.
We’ve managed to get two large garbage bags and two recycling bags out, fill 3 banker boxes, and uncover half of my desk, and drop the overall level of the room by a foot or so. Pretty good for only about 2 hours worth of work! I also uncovered a few hidden treasures, like a foldable keyboard, that I’d completely forgotten I owned. Plus some pictures of Beez (1995-2007) and Beardog (1998-2010), which is always bittersweet.
It’s happening. Slowly, but it is happening. I have to look at the things that are done, not all the things that still need doing. With that in mind, here’s a picture of the cleaned-off desk:
Not so much brave, just determined to get you where YOU want to go. You are far braver than I!
Keep up the amazing work (even if it means I’m a target for stuff being thrown).
Thrown things aside, I still think you’re brave to even set foot inside the door.
As someone who is also trying to learn the habit of looking at what has been accomplished (and true accomplishment at that such as the effort it is to move one item when feeling totally overwhelmed) rather than what is left to do, I do so admire your cleared piece of desk 🙂
Thanks! It really IS hard to not see everything left to do. The stuff that remains is so much more visible than the stuff that’s gone. As you say, some days even moving that one item is a monumental task; so many of them are heavily weighted with emotions of things past.