Aaaggh...this picture project. Geez…all my optimistic talk about downsizing, simplifying, reducing clutter.. blah, blah blah…yay us (said sarcastically). Turns out it’s ridiculously frustrating. I’ve been staring at this picture project which is set up on a 6-foot table with additional boxes on the floor in our dining room for many, many weeks, maybe months. I go stretches of time without making progress. I mean, it’s tedious and stirs emotions as I reminisce over the last 20 years and the childhoods of our two kids. The best laid plans get quickly set aside when sunny days (or friends) call and the offer sounds WAY better than sitting still (yet more hours of the week) sorting pictures and wracking my brain about what right year they belong to. I don’t know how Crystal and Clinton did it. Or maybe they were the smart ones. Like ripping off a band-aid quickly rather than a slow, drawn out peel. Still…no matter how you do it downsizing is tough.
But I remain inspired. They are now living in a tree house in Costa Rica and running barefoot on the beach. Appropriate reward for their courage and commitment to reduce stuff and enhance life. So I will continue forward. Tonight I decided that I would spend just 10 minutes every day working through what’s left (all loose pictures in envelopes…curse the marketing ploy to give double prints for the price of singles). I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner. I know that little trick from running. Tell myself something small that sounds do-able just to get out the door and started. Almost always I end up doing my original goal or more. Also, telling you makes my goal public, which I’m told makes me more likely to succeed. And finally, I’m imagining the rewards of being done. Getting back my dining room and having photos at my finger tips (and not in heavy books and boxes) for whatever I wish to do with them going forward. And that’s something I can picture! Wish me luck.