Catch Up, Clear Out
Letter writing challenge back on track, thanks to inspiration from this book.
Hello Friends,
I hope your 2022 is off to a good start. When my kids returned to school on January 3rd, I tried to do ALL THE THINGS that piled up around here from Thanksgiving on out. Within two days I had exhausted myself to the extent of illness. After a good night's rest and a new, slower, approach I had myself back on track. (And just in case you are wondering, as people do, it wasn't COVID. Thank goodness!)
This month I have been reading Gina Hamadey's book titled I Want to Thank You. Ms. Hamadey wrote thank you notes every day for an entire year! As an aside, my kids' ability to write handwritten thank you notes is one of my few parenting wins. Both of my kids know that a gift cannot used, money spent or a check cashed until a thank you has been written. I play by the same rules myself.
I am particularly impressed by Ms. Hamadey's 365 thank you notes, because in 2021 I attempted a letter writing challenge. Mine was just one letter a week for the entire year, may of which were thank you notes. How did I do? I finished the year out with 31 letters written: most of which were before July. After July, the challenge fell by the wayside of life. This year I am trying again, thanks to inspiration from I Want to Thank You.
Ms. Hamadey wrote her thank yous based on a monthly theme, much like Gretchen Rubin approached her resolutions in The Happiness Project. Since my 2022 is off to a slow start, rather than setting a lot of big goals for the entire year, I am taking a cue from these authors and focusing on a monthly theme. January 2022 was "Catch Up, Clear Out". From late November until my kids returned to school on January 3rd, so many of my regular tasks slid down in priority and piled up. Only recently, do I feel like I am getting a handle on things again.
I have approached paper piles with a "top down" approach, forcing myself to deal with each and every item as it landed in the pile. I would be lying if I said every piece of paper is gone, as we all know this is a swiftly moving target. And yet, the most important things are taken care of and the remaining papers feel managable instead of paralyzing.
Email is much the same beast for me and I approach it in a similiar manner. I try to get to in-box zero once a week. Truth be told, I have been close, but haven't seen an empty screen (i.e. in-box zero) for a few months. At the end of the day, this is just a personal preference and there is no one "right way" to handle papers or email. We all know our comfort levels.
Also in January, I felt called to tackle long overdue errands and clutter clearing. In pre-pandemic days, once a week I would have an epic "errand day" with a route created the day prior, starting with stops furthest from my home and working my way back. That way, if I ran out of time I could easily abort the mission and pick up the errands closer to home at a later time. My errand day would include lunch out, with my husband or a friend on a good day, and strategic bathroom breaks at places around town that are consistently clean.
These days I am still trying to avoid going places where it might be busy and thus, my errands are much more fragmented. I also procrastinate on errands now, as going out feels exhausting after almost two years of barely leaving my home. The silver lining is that Target, among other stores, seems to have lost its luster for me, avoiding impluse buys and clutter.
My daily declutter ebs and flows. In January and in the months ahead I have an intention to tackle long lingering clutter. While my home is bascially tidy, I haven't been good about moving out items that need a little more effort to declutter. This includes things in our basement storage area. In the coming week, I hope to sell the outgrown train table and little kid ice skates. Come spring, I will have a couple of bicycles to sell (any suggestions?). And I would like to purchase a used four drawer file cabinet for our cardboard boxes of archival papers (do you have one to sell?). I won't attempt to tackle these things in a weekend. Instead, I will chip away, slowly, as time with my busy family permits.
This month I want to give you permission to slow down and take things at a pace that feels right for you. While my mind wants to go, go, go; my heart is enjoying experimenting with a slower pace. Instead of pushing myself to exhaustion, I am seeing where my flow and energy leads me. Stuff is getting done with a lot more ease.
Wishing you well, friends, today and always!
Carolyn
P.S. I love providing valuable, ad free content, at no charge to you. If you feel compelled to support my work, please consider providing me with a one time or monthly tip on Ko-fi. I don't drink coffee, but am fueled by tea and dark chocolate. I so appreciate your support in any way. It helps keep my message complimentary and ad free. And, I have limited availability right now for virtual organizing and seminars.
