gearing, part four...and all the rest
September 17, 2019
In an effort to get through this list of things that kill joy and what to do about it at the beginning of a new school year BEFORE the year nears its end…I will address the last three bullets points with a swift hand.
The three remaining bullet points, originally addressed HERE are:
clutter in all its insidious forms
getting all the stuff done
discipline and relationships
So, first. Clutter is bad. Clutter comes in three main forms in my opinion. Physical clutter: read STUFF. Activities clutter: read TOO BUSY TO BE KIND. And mental clutter: read WORRYING.
Physical clutter is sometimes the easiest thing to deal with. If you don’t love something or use something, get rid of it. But, you say, Bonnie… where do I find the time to get rid of the stuff? Well. Do it in little chunks. This month, I’ll spend 15 minutes a day going through the cupboards and drawers in my kitchen and get rid of the clutter.
Nota bene: to clean a cupboard or drawer or room of clutter, take everything out of it first. Only put back what you actually want in that drawer. Have a bag for garbage, donation and stuff that lives somewhere else in your home that needs to be put away. If you have small children, keep these bags or boxes up high. Even hide them.
If you REALLY want to get good at breaking down decluttering into small chunks, read Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley. Even if you aren’t interested, read it anyway.
Activities clutter? Do the same thing. Empty your schedule of all your activities and only put back that which you see as being valuable and keeping your family cohesive and kind to each other. If you can’t be kind, keep paring back until you can.
Mental clutter: I would love to simply say, “stop worrying” and hope that it would be an effective means of helping you stop, but not likely. But I’d like to propose this: start with the other clutter, physical and activities. You will likely find that it will free up enough space in your brain that you will worry less. But in the meantime, practice putting the things you worry about into buckets:
things I can change
things I can’t change
The acceptance of the things you can’t change will prevent a lot of stewing about random things. From there, you get to decide what you’d LIKE to change, and what is WORTH changing from your “can change it” bucket.
The other two items of the bullet list are “getting all the stuff done” and “discipline and relationships.” I’m going to point you to a couple of links, partly because it’s a copout to write more and partly because it’s just efficient to do pointing when I’ve written lots and proposed lots on these topics before.
For “getting all the stuff done,” look above at “decluttering.” You will simply reduce, in spades, what actually needs doing when you have less. But also, practice letting go. And here are some other thoughts.
For discipline and relationships, go to the bottom right hand side bar of this blog, and peruse several short posts on this topic under the heading –
on attachment motherhood and fatherhood, a serial rant
That’s a wrap, bullet points.
