something of something

When I was a kid, my mom took this diet class that taught her the simple rule, "something of something." I think the concept basically means that little things add up. Like, if you can park a little further away and walk, or if you can choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator, or do a quick round of jumping jacks when you have a spare minute or two.... and I guess you can apply it to eating, too... like making small changes -- choosing not to go for seconds at dinner, having half as much soda as you would normally drink... whatever it is... it all adds up and contributes to your overall health.

I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, and how it applies not only to diet and exercise, but to staying organized and not getting overwhelmed with how chaos tends to take over so quickly, if we allow it to! I tend to be a perfectionist and a procrastinator all at the same time. I have projects in mind that I want to get done, like organizing the laundry room (it is our catch-all room, and even when it has been organized recently, it gets out of control again FAST) -- but when I think about getting the project done, I usually do NOTHING until I have time to do EVERYTHING, and I never have time to do it all, so it never gets done!

There are about four boxes of random papers to go through sitting in the laundry room... there are piles of things that just need to be taken out to the garage... there are craft projects waiting to be completed... but why do I think I need to do ALL of it in one big "clean the laundry room" session? I could pull out one box, and go through the papers in that box, and then call it a day. At least one box would be done, which is more than what gets done when I sit here and worry that I will never have time to clean the laundry room... all the while piling more crap in there, thinking that I will just worry about the whole thing later... 

Or, why do I walk to the back of the house to Josiah's room to grab his clothes for the day, but I don't bring with me the toys from the living room that need to go back in his room? It makes no sense. If I'm going back there anyway, why not grab a few toys? Instead, I have this "all or nothing" mentality that the living room will not be clean and organized until I have carved out a good hour of my day to pick up all of the toys, put away the other clutter, organize all the loose books and DVDs that have been left out of their cases, wipe down all the surfaces, vacuum the rugs, and put all the shoes away! But I never have a spare hour in my day, so it stays messy and continues to get messier...

I like to complete projects. If there's one thing I HATE, it's when things are left half done. Like when Josiah eats lunch, but his high-chair tray doesn't get wiped up afterward, and the old food sits there and hardens until we need the tray for dinner... it just really irritates me. It's like, if you're gonna do the job of feeding him lunch, you need to finish the job and wipe his tray at the end! It's one of those strange obsessive crazy things about me that is hard to let go of... Maybe its a control issue.. but I think mostly it's just that we run such a tight schedule everyday, just trying to survive, that I know I'm not gonna have time or energy to clean the tray before dinner, so I just want it done when we start. It only takes one minute at the end of lunch!

I just need to learn to let things go and live in our house without obsessing about all the projects that need to get done, and wondering when I'm gonna have time to get them all, not only started, but completed. Nothing is ever really completely done. All I can do is "chip away," as my dad would say... and then rest in the fact that at least I'm moving forward...