It is all about slowing down, taking time for yourself and establishing new habits that will last a lifetime.
Theme – Putting Away Every Day
Bringing awareness to a small ordinary task that we do every day without thinking.
Welcome to my world. I go around the house constantly pottering away at all the little things that equal clutter. I am not pedantic about neatness but some years ago I started this habit because I was fed-up of wasting so much time looking for things that I knew I had but now couldn’t find them. My idea was that if everything was put away in the right place then it would be just there when I next needed it. This worked fine, and I loved the fact that my house was always, well mostly tidy … that is until I got married. He is the way I used to be before cultivating the habit of never leaving things where they shouldn’t be. I now spend a lot of my day picking up after him, just so I know where things are for the future. Should he do this … yes. Does it annoy him when he can’t find something … yes but that is not enough to make him put things away. Does this frustrate me … yes but, after twenty years together where he has always been the same I know I am not going to change this so there is no point in getting annoyed about it. Mind you, it doesn’t stop me from listing the additional chores he causes or moaning when things he has had go missing.
Did you receive any ah-has this week from tending to, or putting things away?
This is something that I tend to do naturally anyway, the problem is that I live with someone who does not think (or act) the same way. This results in my constantly picking up and putting away things that have been left where they shouldn’t be. My revelation this week is that I do not do it to tidy-up after them but to preserve my sanity because I want things back where they should be. So, I now do not look at it as an unnecessary extra chore but as part of how I want things to be. Don’t get me wrong, they do not get away with things that easily and I do still nag, but the nagging is becoming less frequent. Consequently, they house is tidier with me experiencing less stress about keeping that way. The little things I do are becoming second nature and do not even show on my radar as something that needs to be done because I just do them on autopilot.
Did some of the lessons annoy, or piss you off?
It was not the lessons that rubbed me up the wrong way but the concept of The Pet Peeve.
How would it be if everyone on the planet took just one minute to consciously tend to one thing, pile, or area that needs attention every day?
Man is slowly, but methodically destroying this planet. Living right on the coast one huge issue is the rubbish that accumulates on the beach. There is not so much a problem her from tourism as we are a little remote, but even so the amount of debris is still phenomenal. One simple campaign is to encourage everyone that visits to collect at least three pieces of rubbish on every visit. Our council have installed several litter bins on access points and carparks to encourage this further and people are starting to respond. There are also volunteer beach clearance events periodically, but the problem is a massive one and the consequences run far deeper than an unsightly beach. Sea creatures and birds are dying because of the mindlessness of humans.
We really do not deserve this world.