Heather Does Something Strange...

Mark your calendars!!!

I cleaned up a part of my already chronically messy room that is quite chronically messy. That's the main path from my door to my computer. I always pile lots of stuff right by the computer. I'm working on it!! That's why it's there. I'm "working" on it. That pile over there is the recycling, that one is shredding, that one is filing for credit cards, that one is filing for medical, etc. Sure.

So for some reason, I decided to clean this area along with a couple of drawers of my really jammed file cabinet. I don't really know why this desire came upon me. Maybe it was one of those once a decade kind of things. Maybe I'd just gotten tired of tripping over my own stuff. I don't mind if others are tripping over my stuff, as long as they don't break it. Selfish, but true. Some sort of defense mechanism. Takes you longer to get to me. Like putting cans on your doorknob or marbles on your entryway floor.

I put some music on, my computer and iTunes being right there at my desk, and thusly began my crazed cleaning jag.

There was a lot of random and violent gesticulating and leaping about shouting "Shit shit!" "I can't throw this away, I can't do it, no, no, no." There was lots of talking to myself, "It'll be okay...", soothing and patting my arms and shoulders.

But it ended up being a little easier as I went along. When I hit those moments described above, I used these two strategies to force myself to put the paper in the recycling bag.

1. Do you really need to keep an article on "How to drink enough water"? You KNOW that stuff already! Recycle it!!
2. Are you really going to read this?!?! NO, so recycle it!!

It worked pretty well. I guess it shouldn't have since a lot of hoarders will be able to justify keeping it. "I'll read it one day!!", "But I might forget what I know and will need this on hand!" But I was able to bypass this and actually fill a paper grocery bag and a half. And had a bunch of space to put all the paper piles from the floor into the filing cabinet to be processed again. Argg. But at least it is off the floor.

Another thing I have a hard time doing is not reading things or examining them before recycling or throwing them away. I went through every sheet of paper. Partly because I seem to have picked up this obsession about shredding any sort of identifying information on recycling, such as my full name, my address, etc. I think it started about a year or two ago. Probably with all the identity theft scare stuff. So I rip out the info, shred that, recycle the rest in the regular bin. And partly to examine the item and make the final decision, keep or toss? So I ran across all sorts of things. Such as Marty's old address scribbled on the back of an old fencing gear receipt. So that had to be back before I knew by heart where he lived. Long ago. Wow.

So, it's a start. I still have a long way to go. Here's some shots I took with my weenie phone camera.


Blearg.