By I grew up in a house with eleven people and one bathroom. Now there are five of us and we have three bathrooms. I survive in chaos but when given a choice, I try to choose calm.
Have you ever heard that the five people you spend the most time with are a reflection of who you are? If this is true then I’m basically a child 🙂 I feel like a more accurate reflection is your environment. My surroundings have such an impact on my mood and how I function that it can shut me down. When my desk is cluttered, I don’t write and I don’t plan. When the laundry is piled high, I don’t get myself ready. When the dishes are piled I don’t eat healthy. When my home is a mess, I’m a mess.
Full disclosure, I’m normally a mess. I have three children. By the time everyone is home, fed, bathed, and in bed I’m zapped. Today I decided I’m never going to catch up if I wait to get it all done at once. So I’m making small changes that are yielding big results for my sanity!
My first change is simple, every time I go into a room I look for a small task I can do. Go to the bathroom – grab my daughters discarded pajama bottoms and put the soap back in the dish. Need to grab something from the bedroom – fold a few items from the laundry basket that’s sitting on my bed. Walking back from the kitchen – pick up and toss all the toys I come across into the toy box.
My second change, I wrote a quick AM/PM task list on our white board. I found myself forgetting to do things like put my daughters ice packs into the freezer at night. So each night I grab her lunch box, throw the ice packs in the freezer, rinse out her lunch box and put it in the dish washer, plug in all tablets, start the dishes and go to bed!
What makes your day easier? Does that state of your home affect you as much as it does me? Take baby steps to clear your space and welcome the calm!
E. A. McComas 