I've been walking around the boxes on the floor of my office for about four months. And that doesn't include the smaller versions of clutter that began accumulating before that. Oh, it's not useless clutter. It's all good, important stuff that I either can't decide where to store or that I think I want to use ... soon. I heard myself saying "I can't work in this mess." But the truth is, I have been working in this mess and I've actually done very well. So, why fix something that's not broken.
On a call with my coach yesterday I found myself heading straight into an unintended conversation about the stuff in my office. I lamented that moving it into the storage cupboard in the Women's Wisdom Retreat gathering room would mean sorting through all the things that had been tossed in there. That would take too much time and well, what was I going to do with all that yarn?
No wonder we don't get things done. In his book Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, James Hollis talks about 'the wound of overwhelmment'. I could easily relate. The world is big. I am small. Can't do it. But the extraordinary truth is that I can do it. AND I did do it. And my office looks twice the size. In a moment of clarity yesterday I called two friends and dispersed the yarn. I gathered up some other things to give away, reorganized the shelves and suddenly my office is ready for the big bookkeeping project I really want to tackle today.
What I believe every woman wants to know is 'what got you started?' Honestly, we are all capable and we really do know we can get things done. The space ... which feels like a Grand Canyon gap between knowing the way and going the way ... can seem impossible to cover. So just do something. Anything. Get some momentum going. That's how bridges are built, partnerships formed, holes dug, pictures painted.
Start somewhere now. You might surprise yourself with what you can do.
Courageous women - Begin ... the rest is easy.