Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Playing to your Inertia
I had a weird week. I had more time off than usual, but though there were things that I knew I should be doing, I wasn’t able to muster my usual energy. I seemed to be suffering from some kind of inertia. I tried not to freak out, I still picked up the kids and cooked dinner and returned emails—and though time is valuable, I tried to take the philosophical view that maybe what I needed was to sit on the couch and read and eat a hot lunch.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes: Oh she sat on the couch and read… she’s so bad. But wait! The week got weirder: Friday, between a dental cleaning and a parent/teacher conference I, who rarely shop and even more rarely buy, bought (You are going to love this): two bags, two pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans and a coffee cup. Yikes! Who am I?
I woke up Saturday feeling hung over and slightly ashamed, and thought, What happened? Then I thought, inertia.
I’ve noticed that many of my clients suffer from a kind of inertia around their clutter problem areas. If it’s paper, they just push the piles aside; if it’s their closets, they go years without weeding through them. Yet those same clients have tons of energy and get-up-and-go when it comes to shopping. They are constantly out and about, hunting and gathering and bringing more to their already stuffed closets.
In general, I’m the opposite. I have no problem summoning the energy to face the papers on my desk, but when I’m in Lord & Taylor, it just seems like too much work to try on another pair of jeans, so I make do with the ones I have. For some reason (free-floating anxiety, stress?), my usual tendencies were reversed: I frittered Thursday away, and then went nuts shopping on Friday. I think that generally I don’t fall into this trap because I have a very deep-seated belief system: work=good; spending=bad, and I am generally happier when I do the things I think are good. It’s probably different for everyone, but I think my clients probably don’t share the same belief system, or their internal critic isn’t quite as cruel as mine.
Take a moment and ask yourself: When do you suffer from inertia? When do you shop? Many of my clients feel bad about not dealing with their clutter; the challenge is how to translate that into action. Can you beef up your self-praise when you do tackle the clutter? Can you consciously try to divert the shopping/buying impulse and put that energy into dealing with your desk? Reward yourself: No Zappos until this desk is clear! And, if you have positive associations with shopping, question those. Yes, it’s pretty; yes, it’s chic, but is it necessary? Do you need it? Who made it? Were they paid fairly? Change up your internal dialogue.
And no, I don’t think I’m returning any of it. The shoes are pretty, the bags are chic and the jeans were made in the USA.