I fully admit this post is totally stream of consciousness. This post is not like other posts found on this site with an organized article format. This has been written at the speed of the moment to convey the essence of the experience.
My past has haunted me since 1998…that’s when the boxes started.
Let me explain.
In 1998 I was living with my parents, working full time while going to college full time. I had a very tight schedule but I was consistently on the Dean’s List and making way towards my career path as an elementary school teacher.
When Dad got a new job across the country, everything broke out into chaos.
I had no time to go through everything I owned. I had to move out in one weekend. In a mad rush to move out, all of my possessions were put into boxes. Everything. And since May 1998, some of these boxes have been with me ever since, untouched from their original packing on that sunny weekend in May. As I write this I have at least a half dozen of these original banker’s boxes with the original labels on them.
And they are all full of “stuff”.
Stuff I’ve never gone through.
Stuff like old papers.
Stuff like old mementos.
Stuff like photos that were never put into albums.
Stuff.
One of these boxes is full of little homework assignments from kindergarten. Some of them are full of all daily ephemera from the times I was homeless in 2001. One box is full of old bank statements from 10 years ago.
If someone were to come over to my place, these boxes have always been hidden away. They are not a dirty little secret, per say. Yet these boxes have been full of memories - some good, some not so good. And some of these memories should be shredded into oblivion.
Since 1998 I have used these Banker’s Boxes as a way to be my one giant inbox - that I’ve never cleaned out. The items contained in all of these boxes are in ranging forms of organization. One or two of these boxes have been filled with to-do lists, grocery lists, ideas scribbled on scratch paper, phone numbers form people who didn’t have a business card, magazine articles I found interesting, and so on, and so on.
Guess what: This “in-box” is driving me crazy. All of these boxes of in-boxes have made my mind more scattered, more cluttered, more frustrated over time. Oh sure I’ve been organized with most of my life, but when life would get out of control, the nasty habit of “put everything into a box and wait for later” would emerge as an option. And it has happened enough times that I now have all these boxes.
Do you have stuff like this in your life that you want to clean out?
I bet you do. That’s why I knew it was time to organize my past because it is time to move forward.
In the past few years I have found that the time of my life leading up to 2006 is a time that I consider my “old self”. These years are full of a part of me that now seems distant and far away. When I look at anything from those years I look at it strangely, as if these items belong to someone else.
Perhaps as time continues to ravage forward at dizzying speeds, it becomes more and more important to look at two places in time: NOW, and in the future.
I am much more excited about what is happening right now than to look at old college papers from my time at the University. I am enthusiastic to think about my future projects instead of looking at old projects that never materialized.
One week ago I decided that it was time to tackle these monstrosities that have consumed so much of my time and energy in the past. When I started, I realized I had 15 banker’s boxes full of stuff to go through.
15 banker’s boxes would be one stack of boxes going from the floor to the ceiling. And then some.
I have photos of these amazing boxes. I’ll post them….but not until after I get through the boxes.
I knew I had to begin but I didn’t know where. So I pulled all the boxes from out of the closet and I opened up one random box. It all started with one box. It was slow going at first, but refreshing. Then it led up to two boxes.
This process has consumed all of my energy and attention. I had no idea that this would take so much time, but that is why I am taking care of this project I am calling “The Boxes” right now before spring comes, before the weather gets nice, before our friends from out of state come to stay with us later this summer, before I make time for the millions of other things that are more exciting than to individually go through The Boxes.
As I write this I am about halfway there. I have successfully filed, recycled, shredded or trashed the items in about 6 boxes. I am going to keep going until I have reached a place of completion.
I have been working on an article for HeidiOhlander.com about my experiences with Getting Things Done as well as Zen to Done. I have learned a lot from their own unique philosophies, and I have always had my own additional philosophies when it comes to organizing and productivity.
But in order to even publish this article and to get back into my blogging rhythm, I have to get through my own organization process first.
Do you have your own “boxes” to tackle in your life? Is there a project that you have wanted to get done that has never been fully finished for years and years?
I have one helpful tip for any organizing you want to do:
Begin.
Get started. Start somewhere. Start anywhere. Start with just one piece of paper. Just begin. Begin.
It is time to quiet those cluttering demons that are preventing you from moving forward in your life.
I leave you now with this beautiful quote from Goethe:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Begin it.
Let the magic begin.
~ Heidi