Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo

I have four main goals for the summer:

1. To be able to easily walk 3 miles per day
2. To go to the local gym with my daughter and sign up for a family membership
3. To visit the local women's center to see what kind of volunteer work they might need
4. To get through the Pile of Possibilities

What, you may ask, is the Pile of Possibilities? Well, I took a picture of it in April 2008. What is supposed to be my sewing desk in my Studio has been overrun by clutter. This is most definitely a conglomeration of unmade decisions. I figured if I stopped calling it "clutter" or "chaos," I might be more open to whittling the thing into submission. So I chose the name "Pile of Possibilities" (Po'P for short) to remind myself that within the junk lay some jewels.

I've been working on my Po'P over the last several weeks. I take it just 15 min at a time so that I don't get overwhelmed with the process. When taken in small bites, it's much easier to make the needed decisions.

To my credit, the Po'P is now down to that white box on the far right side of the table and it is only half full instead of overflowing. The bulletin board has been hung up elsewhere in the room, but the clutter on it has not been addressed. The treasure that was removed from the table has either been dealt with completely (filed, trashed, given away) or is awaiting processing (letters to be answered, items to mail, information to be digitized, etc.)

The thing about clutter is that it just won't go away of its own accord. Worse, it seems to breed! The other thing about clutter is that I have indeed found some gems in among the chaff. They're hiding out so they won't be stolen by a burglar.

So give me some love and encouragement! There's only one month of summer left and I VOW to enter the Fall with a clean workspace.

As for my other goals?

1. I can now walk 3 miles a day easily. One day last week I walked 4 miles and wasn't even sore the next day!
2. Jodie and I plan to visit the gym next week We were going to do it this week, but she got a temp job. But it's high on the priority list now.
3. As for the women's center, I'm still summoning up my courage to do that. These are the people that run the shelter that I lived in 20+ years ago. I know that by walking through those doors, I'll be faced with some old raw feelings (mental/emotional clutter?). So going there will take a bit o' courage.

So I'll issue a challenge here. Go to the Po'P in your own home. Set a timer for 15 min. See if you can make a small dent in the pile over the next seven days. Then drop me a comment and tell me what you've accomplished. We can make these small but important decisions together.