Darwin Would Be Proud, Actually.

Okay, so I’m working on baby steps for Flylady.net, a website that helps you get a handle on your messy house. My house is a disaster although, admittedly, not as bad it used to be. I used to say that my house was a Darwinian experiment gone terribly wrong: throw some pizza on the floor and see who’d survive the longest-dog or kid (that kid is now 15 years old, so it seems he did okay.) Actually, I’d have bet on the roaches. Even the aquarium was a scary, messy place where whole fish disappeared one day to reappear, with stringy pieces, the next and float around in the tank, a macabre warning to the rest of us.

Now, the years have past, I’ve picked up a tip here and there, overcome some things, and improvements have been made but with a 3 yo and  a 4 yo running amuck, my house still more closely resembles a toy box- a toy box complete with sand, sticky stuff and little boy shoe stank (Honestly, HOW can such sweet feet make such horrible smells? It is a wonder of nature!) - than an actual functioning place where people actually live. In fact, my living room IS the toy room. Actually. I'd decided why fight it? And, it was a good bet. The toys have won.

I find myself facing down my 40th birthday and wondering, well, what the hell happened? Wasn’t this house-keeping thing some basic function of adulthood, like paying bills and cooking dinner, (I am getting better but I pretty much suck at those too,actually) that I was supposed to have mastered by now? Weren’t my twenties supposed to be this learning curve where I’d get good at being an adult and, by now, I’d have it down to a fine art? Aren’t I supposed to be cruising into the rest of my life, right about now? Actually, no. I’m still struggling to find my feet on the deck of the ship of my life. (Only, sometimes, my ship actually feels more like a pirate’s ship than a cruise ship. “Swab the poop deck, Matie!”)

One of the things that Flylady says, that really hits me in the gut as TRUTH, is to let go of your perfectionism, “perfectionism is what got you into this mess in the first place.”  Thank you, very much! That concept was always hard to explain, even to myself- "Actually, my house is a disaster because I am a perfectionist.”

If I don’t have the time and energy 

to clean the whole house, ceilings to baseboards, 

then FORGET IT, I won’t do anything.  

< Insert feeling of being totally overwhelmed and then go sit on the couch.>

Flylady is teaching me that “good enough” is good enough. (And, to use a timer-you can get a lot done in 15 minutes and you don't get overwhelmed.)

That’s a great lesson for life, in general, and not just housework.  For most things, spend just enough time and then move on or you won’t have any energy left to have FUN. Break everything down into tiny pieces and knock it out over time - consistency and patience are the two big virtues to make a life that is fun and fruitful. That’s my two cents, actually, since you asked. :)

"Don't do nothing because you can't do everything. Do Something. Anything." -Colleen Patrick Goudreau

"Little by little, one travels far."-J.R.R. Tolkien