Life in the Tiny Moments

I’m catching up again. The closet has proved a challenge for me and I’ve been procrastinating. More on that below.

Meanwhile, I switched focus to regain some momentum. Yesterday I took 2 bags to Goodwill including:

• 2 reference books I haven’t used in years
• 2 DVDs I haven’t watched in ages
• 2 throw pillows that came with a recent comforter purchase
• An unused notebook
• A blanket that was collecting dust in the closet (I washed it first)
• A bell for my bike – recently got one that is louder (for better alerting cars to my presence)

Today I spent 30 minutes and:

• Cleaned out the fridge, took out the compost
• Pulled summer kitchen stuff (extra ice cube trays, cups that keep drinks cold) down from the kitchen cupboards to be washed and put into use
• Sorted 1 shelf of the bookshelf in the living room
• Pulled out 3 books to donate: 2 Japanese books from when I was learning the language, 1 duplicate workbook from a training workshop (Goodwill)
• Recycled 2 old articles I had printed a long time ago (12 pieces of paper)
• Used the extra space I created on the bookshelf as a new home for some workbooks/ articles that were piled on top of the file cabinet

What I learned: the lesson I’m taking from last week is that while focusing on 1 area for a week can be really productive, if it’s not happening it’s better to drop that focus and move on. I got stuck on the closet because what’s there is mostly old souvenirs, photos and letters that I’ve sorted at least a couple times before. I’m sure there’s more I could let go of but I generally get really caught up in looking at stuff, reading the letters, etc and that slows me down.

I know some would propose a take-no-prisoners approach but I want to approach this project with compassion and patience so for now I’ve decided to leave that stuff aside. I expect I’ll come back to it when I feel inspired to focus there and have more time (an hour/ day for a week OR a full weekend might work better). My goal for the 30-day challenge was to move quickly and see progress quickly so for now, it’s on to other areas.