Motivated

Sometimes it's hard to be motivated to do anything beyond survival. But it becomes an ugly cycle--being depressed, letting the mess creep up, feeling suffocated, then sorry for myself, which takes us right back to depressed.

Somewhere the cycle has to budge. And some days, I do really good at that. Yesterday was one of those. My life isn't that much different today or yesterday from the day before. Nothing much has happened, except that my kitchen was clean when I got up this morning, my refrigerator stocked and my living room presentable.

And for some damn reason, that helps, and the cloud lifts a little bit, and I know that there's going to be an end to the current madness.

The Big Question

What stops me from doing the things that I know are good for myself, that introduce order and peace to my life, that allow me to lay down in bed at night with a deep sense of satisfaction about my day?

Where to Start

A few of you have talked about wanting to start doing better in your homes. It's important to do so without guilt and while letting go of the idea of perfection!

Start with the Flylady at "Flying Lessons." I encourage you to follow her process for the whole thing, because she does have a wonderful system and she understands our dilemmas SO very well. I'll write more about that later.

Anyway, there are two phrases that have stuck in my head that help me do better in my home.

The FlyLady says, "Even housework done incorrectly still blesses your home." This is true!

And my favorite FlyGirl says this to me when I get whiny about the things I should do, "You'll feel better if you do." She's right! Doing these things isn't about being a responsible adult who does all their boring chores. It's about feeling better because you live in a less stressful environment, because by sticking to our routines we cut down on our overall work, because it just feels really damn good to crawl into a well made bed with clean sheets.

Now I have routines to do! I'm going to make my bed first today, but instead of hopping immediatly into the shower I'm going to put on workout clothes, pop the baby in the backpack and go for a walk.

First I need to pay rent (on time!), then I will pick up my wedding ring from the jeweler's, and I might just swing by the post office and drop a few notes in the mail.

Everyone have an excellent day, and do yourself a favor and sign up for the FlyLady! There are FlyGuys, too, so my bachelor buddies shouldn't be turned off by the ... purple ... of the whole thing.

Slow Start Today

Today has had a slow start. I have managed to make my bed, shower and feed the Sprout and me. I am lacking motivation to do anything else...

So, here's where the 10 minute timer works best for me. I really need to clean up the kitchen. I also need to do a load of laundry.

I'll get the laundry started and then spend 10 minutes in the kitchen. After that it's play time with the girlie, and hopefully soon I can take a nap because I didn't sleep very well last night.

According to my weekly plan, Wednesday is Plan Menus day, as well as polishing mirrors and writing notes and cards to mail tomorrow.

We'll see if any of that is done. For now I'll be satisfied with a clean kitchen and a load of laundry.

And a nap....

Progress

Ten minutes at a time, with long breaks in between for feeding, playing and sleeping. I'm feeling better already:

I did everything on the plan from earlier, plus a few things. Tomorrow I spend time in the kitchen, but we'll leave tomorrow to worry about itself.

Have a lovely evening!

Wow!

I was completely finished with my morning routine at 8:45 this morning. Thank you, Pack n' Play and Elmo in Grouchland. I even took my vitamin, AND some ginseng!

So... what needs to be done today?

It's Tuesday, and according to my weekly plan, that means I need to hit the Laundry Room and sweep the whole house. Not too bad. I'll do those things first, and if I have time to do other things I will. I'm going to include "put away all the clean laundry" in this set.

Today I would also like to visit some friends and complete a website project I have for someone. I also need to contact a friend about doing some computer work for her coffee shop.

Ten minutes at a time, baby.

I can do anything for ten minutes, so long as a midget isn't holding onto my legs and screaming at me!

Ugh

Yesterday I didn't get ten consecutive minutes to spend on any one task. Sprout crawled after me, whining and screaming because I wouldn't let her pinch me all day. She's gotten into a thing that if I'm standing or walking within her field of view she gets angry. Barry Brazleton's "Touchpoints" says this is normal, that she's upset that she can't be the one walking away yet. Normal or not, it's quite annoying and detrimental to my drive to accomplish anything.

Today is a new day! We try again.

I'll be making links for my routines, but for now, this is what I hope to do this morning:

Make my bed.
Shower.
Get dressed to the laceup shoes.
Throw in a load of laundry.
Make breakfast for the Sprout and me.

If all that comes together, I'll come back and post other plans for the day.

Babysteps.

That's how we gots to do it.