Decluttering

This weekend I made progress in the form of four Hefty bags full of garbage. I cleaned the pantry closet, my dresser, the den closet and the entire den. I found things I didn’t know I had. I found things I should have thrown away years ago and created new space to store things that I will probably throw away in the future.

Problem: Before, I found all the clutter distracting. I’d stop writing and gaze at the piles of mess and think, Gee, I should do something about this. I should dust. I should sort papers, I should. . .

Now, I’m distracted by all the empty space. I find myself gazing at the dust free desk, the large empty space on the floor that used to be occupied by boxes of paper and stacks of books, and admiring how nice it all looks. There’s no dust on my lampshade [in lieu of a vacuum attachment, a lint brush works pretty well in dusting lampshades, btw]. There’s only one stack of “items in progress” on my desk. There’s nothing to trip over, except the dog’s bone, which I found buried behind a mountain of my stuff. The dog, btw, is not impressed. He never liked that bone much anyway.

I think the point is, no matter what I do, it’s easier to be distracted than to be focused. I did work on my WIP today, and I plan to work some more later, but I spent a lot more time looking at the little dish of stones I’m using as a place holder until I get my goldfish.

Maybe once I get used to all this clean I’ll be able to settle down and concentrate. Right now all I want to do is wallow in the dust-freeness of my office.