A wise man I know once said that there is balance between controlling your environment and relaxing or having fun in it, and it is a choice where on the spectrum you want to live. I've spent the last week-plus leaning more toward the other end of the spectrum due to some unusual challenges. I picked up a few shifts and discovered that I couldn't work, complete my FLYing lessons and post about it all at the same time. Then my husband left for a week-long seminar and I found out that I couldn't work full-time, be a single mom and complete FLYing lessons. (Now, I'm sure there are plenty of single moms out there who can do it. But they've had more practice than me, and their kids aren't usually extra-needy from a major change in the routine.)
I actually made it through Day Thirteen before I had to trim my FLYing back to laying out clothes, shining my sink, cleaning the kitchen and doing a quiet time. Then I took two more days catching up with my husband and working on some projects around the house. So I figure I should just go back to the last blog post and resume at Step Ten to help me get back into the swing of things.
The new task for the day is fifteen minutes of decluttering (aka throwing stuff away).
This was actually from a week ago, when I first started the challenge. Here's the before (from Day Nine):
And here's after throwing junk away for fifteen minutes:
Today I decided to start on the living room, because it's gotten into a bad state over the last week.
First, there was four minutes of Hot Spot putting-out:
Then there was a Five-Minute Room Rescue. I had to spend some time emptying out the "Put Away" box from last time. I am ashamed to admit that I found in it the reason Rose's sneakers have been missing for a week.
But doesn't it look better?
Very tempting... (just kidding).
And finally after ten minutes of decluttering:
After ten minutes, I really couldn't find any actual trash around any more, so I spent the other five minutes in another room.
It feels good to be getting back on track. I believe you make the most progress developing a habit when it's hardest to feel motivated, so after I've pushed myself I find that feel more satisfied than when I was actually looking forward to doing chores.
Happy endorphins!
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