The Weight of Disorganization

Awhile back, I had great intentions of writing a blog post about the weight of disorganization. The irony of the fact that I still haven’t posted it hasn’t escaped me. It was a day when the accumulation of receipts, notes, meeting agendas, tickets to events, and whatever other random detritus had taken up residence on my desk had me overwhelmed, and my goal was to clear it all off, piece by piece, until I had a clean, clear surface to work with. But first, I decided to take a “before” picture to use in this blog post. And IT BROKE MY PHONE. You may think I’m kidding, but no sooner had it taken the picture than it crashed, first to the standard “oops, I’ve crashed” black screen with the white apple, and then to a solid blue screen (Apple’s own BSOD?). Apparently I’m not the only one who finds the disorganization too much to take. Maybe it’s a coincidence that my not-quite-two-year-old iPhone died – truly dead; it had to be replaced – at that particular moment, the instant I snapped that picture, but I tend to think not.

If I’d needed a sign other than my own stress level that it was time for clean surfaces, surely that was it. By the end of the day, after I’d spent a couple of hours at the Apple store dealing with the phone replacement, I sorted through and dealt with every bit of paper on the desk, dusted the surfaces, including the top edges of the books, and even sorted and tidied the desk drawers. It was glorious when it was done.

I’m not a stickler for tidiness. I would far rather write or read or spend time with people I love than clean. I’m not going to look back on my life and regret that I didn’t spend time I could have been doing the things I love cleaning my house instead. As long as it’s hygienic and not too piled up, I’m fine with it. But every once in awhile, I’m reminded of how much more clearly I can think when my space is truly tidy. It’s like the neat spaces allow my mind to get busy creating instead of being slowed down by the visual clutter from a mess. Or something.

Whatever the reason, I like the result. Maybe not enough to tidy instead of doing other things I love every time. But maybe once in awhile. I’ll just be sure to avoid taking a before picture first.