All About Long Island

Things — Do You Own Them or Do They Own You September 16, 2006

Clutter can sneak up on you and turn your world upside down.  It can start with something as simple as putting down your mail and telling yourself you’ll get to it later, then not focusing on it till you’re drowning in paper, or the unconscious need to collect things.  I’m guilty of both and finally, out of desperation made a decision awhile back that was liberating.  “Just because I own it,” I reminded myself, “doesn’t mean it has to be on display.”  A simple truth, but acknowledging it was a biggie for me.  I don’t want to give you the impression that my world is now pristine, clutter free and organized, it’s anything but.  I feel like I’m in a twelve step program and I’m at step three. 

I’ve watched all the television shows in which they take someone’s littered space and turn it into a model of organization and planning.  The before pictures, embarrassing at best, give the viewer the impression that no amount of time or talent can free these people from a lifetime of bad habits.  Amazingly though, the outcome is always spectacular and the invariable revisit by the host within a few months of the project’s end reveals a happy convert to an orderly and more stress free existence.  I hold that out as my hope as I slog through the process.

For anyone out there who can relate, I strongly recommend watching HGTV’s Mission Organization.