November 11, 2009
When You Run Out of Excuses
Do you see this cabinet? It haunts my nightmares. HAUNTS THEM. What is the significance of it?
Well to explain that, we have to go back in time a few years. For some reason, for the past five years or so I’ve had a list of BIG IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO in my head at all times. This isn’t like, Empty the dishwasher. It’s more like, Paint the living room wall.
I tend to put off the BIG IMPORTANT THINGS because my life always feels like its hurtling out of control. But if I’m going to feel comfortable putting them off, I need an iron-clad, unimpeachable excuse. And the wedding provided exactly that. Why, I couldn’t be expected to chip away at my chores! I was planning a wedding!
And if you remember, we were engaged for a solid year and a half, meaning that I had a blissful 18 months of freedom from worrying about this stupid, nagging list. But roughly this time last year we got hitched and ever since we got home from the honeymoon, I’ve been chipping away at the stuff.
So far I have:
1) Painted my living room wall.
2) Gotten a screen installed on the porch.
3) Gotten the car’s belts changed. All of them.
4) Studied for and obtained a California driver’s license.
5) Gotten a ceiling fan for the apartment.
And that means that there’s just one BIG IMPORTANT THING left on the list and of course, I’ve been saving the worst for last. Behold, ye olde filing cabinet. For the past….ten years or so I have been randomly stuffing papers inside of here. At one time, there was a filing system but the last time I dared to try to figure it out, my eyes rolled back in my head and I collapsed on the closet floor. Plus, thanks to electronic records, about 75% of the stuff that’s in there can simply be shredded. Do you know how long that’s going to take with my rinky-dink shredder?
Look at how it doesn’t even have handles! When did I lose them?! What lurks inside that black abyss? I know it’s silly. I should just put aside a little time this weekend and knock it out. I realize the relief I’d feel once I was done would be absolutely incredible, and yet, weekend after weekend passes and it sits untouched.
So now I’m looking for a new excuse for why I can’t face it. Perhaps I can blame it on my relatively new-ish job? An upcoming vacation? Unfavorable organizational stars?
You could throw everything in a box and take it to a commercial shredder drop-off place. Well, maybe you want to glance through things first in case it contains something like your birth certificate or a long-forgotten share in future profits of an electric co-op. Wait. That is MY messy file cabinet.
How about if you get it done by the end of the weekend and can prove it I send you a starbucks gift card? Is that motivation? We can pretend you’re my sister, I bribe her to clean up our place with starbucks all the time.
One of my friends has been tackling her files too - 20 minutes at a time. Once she gets going, it’s a lot easier to keep going, and it also breaks the task down into a manageable chunk. Maybe you could try that. (The Starbucks bribe also sounds like a winner…)
I’ve been putting it off too. Last night, I sat down to make different piles, the things I need to file & things I need to shred. I feels great to have it done. Now, I have to make sure the files make it back into the filing cabinet. You can do it (and looks like a reader is willing to throw a bribe in)
Amanda, you are TOO kind. I cannot accept this! But you have motivated me to bribe myself. I think I will allow myself a calorie-laden breakfast item from McDonald’s or a nice bottle of wine if I accomplish this.
I can do this! I can do this!!!
Oh dear…I have one of those file cabinets too…you have reminded me I need to get cracking.
This is like me tackling the huge job of organizing my computer room. It pretty much became the place to throw unsorted knick-knacks–otherwise known as junk that I have no place in the rest of my house for–as well as books, papers and a random assortment of childhood toys.
I would gladly take going through something that size over going through an entire room…
I have a file cabinet like that. And a drawer. And a few folders. And…I can’t go on. I need to lie down.
You can do it! It feels so good when you have it done and you can find everything! I hate filing SO MUCH. But I got a nice filing cabinet a few year back, and that helps. It’s designed to look like real furniture, so even though I’d rather not have one, it looks nice sitting in my living room. That might help.