When The Switch Flips

Its amazing isn’t it? How one moment you can walk around like, “I got this”, and then then, click, the switch flips and you are ready to throw the towel in and say, “Im done.” Today seems to be one of those days. I started off feeling all confident, just rocking life, I even had a smidgen of energy. I put on my little head kerchief to protect my hair and set off confidently to get stuff done. I was going to sort, and eliminate, and just overall be the boss. That lasted just up until the moment I got to the area of the house that I wanted to work on. I just stood there, looking at the “stuff”, while all my confidence and enthusiasm just melted away. I hate those moments where you seriously just look around and you don’t even know where to begin; so you pick up an item, look at it, and then set it back down…… because you have absolutely no idea what to do with. Then you pick up the next item, turn it around in your hands, bite your lip a little, and set it back down. After, you know, the fifth or fiftieth item, it time to walk away. Because if you don’t….

A different kind of switch flips. And then.. You. Lose. Your. Mind. Im working on trying to reduce those kinds of experiences in my corner of the world. So today, I chose to walk away. To take a breather. Drink a cup of coffee. Ignore the evil little voice that says, “You should drink tea.” And refocus. Thats probably the most important part to do. So here I am, taking a moment to remind myself, that is a marathon and not a sprint. Walking away doesn’t mean that I am quitting, it means that it is time for a refreshed perspective. It means that I am choosing to not keep pushing myself when I don’t have a clear idea of how I want to move forward. Thats when its time to find new perspective, and in some cases, find a different area to work on, or even a different project and come back to the problem area another day.

5 Ways to Refresh Perspective

1. Step outside and take some deep breaths of air. Just take a moment and focus on the air going in and the air going out. Breathe in the good, breathe out the bad.
2. Grab something to drink. (no, Im not saying a beer or anything, even just a glass of water or something) Sit down, if you can or dare, and jot down some notes.
3. Write down or even just think about your goals with this project. Take a few moments to remind yourself, why this is important to you, the benefits that it is going to bring to your life. In my case Im working in the direction of minimizing the “stuff” that is trying to clutter up my life, so my goals include things like living simpler, not having so much stuff to dust(thats worth it all by itself, Im just saying), being able to find what I am looking for, and not tripping over stuff. For me, these are all benefits and Im sure we could come up with many more benefits for getting rid of excess stuff. Benefits could look like more space, more time, more energy or any number of other things.
4. Make a list of tasks that will break down the project and help find a clearer idea of what needs to be done. This might also include delegating some of the tasks out to your spouse or your kids. We had been having a terrible time around here with our boys and their bedroom. I kept going up and spending an obscene amount of time working on the room with them. It was exhausting and the dust caused allergy flare up and I would be down for days each time. But this last time, I decided that it was time to delegate. The boys got a list of things that had to be done and I delegated the consequences to be overseen by Dad. Ive never seen them get their room cleaner.
5. Give yourself a break when you need it. Give yourself permission to walk away when you need to. Do something else. Take downtime when you need it.