Clearing the Deck
What is it about spring that inspires us to clean up, fix up and generally sort out the junk that has been collecting in the various rooms of our abodes? But at least in my case, the detritus has not just been gathering dust since last spring. In late February we had a couple of weeks of unseasonal warmth and sunshine, and it motivated me to finally reorganize my study, cluttered as it was with stacks of books, piles of newspaper clippings (research, you know), and assorted uncategorizable material that can only be labeled “stuff”.
I had no more excuses since the needed bookcase space had long since been recovered from a couple of hundred VHS videos that my better half finally disposed of. Alone organizing the books took several hours a day over several days. It felt as if I were assembling a 1000-piece 3-D puzzle. I sifted through the articles, discarded some, sorted others according to subject. There is still more work to do, but I knew I’d reached a milestone when I caught a glimpse of two long-hidden, wooden desktops (think IKEA) that I could then wipe down and furnish with objects of my choosing
Could this be a metaphor for the state of my brain? Is this spring cleaning defragging my cerebral hard drive to create space for more noble tasks? Such as writing? I hope to see the proof in the pudding. (Oh dear, so many mixed metaphors in such a short piece!)
If you can make out the little sign on my desk (see photo above), it says in German:
Only idiots need ORDER / A GENIUS conquers chaos
It seems I number among those who do better with some order in my life.
How about you? Do you stand above the chaos and work on? Or do you need order? What effect does spring have on you and your writing?
Your desk looks really neat, Debbie. Well done for keeping going at the tidying. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the task of organising one’s stuff. If I look around my desk it looks a little chaotic but there’s a crazy order in the chaos.
I find other people’s clutter quite fascinating, but my own clutter irritates me. I think I walk that fine line between organisation and chaos, occasionally tripping from one to the other!
Thanks, Angela. No telling how long the newly acquired tidiness will last, but it is liberating.
I think sunlight’s the trigger. Especially sunlight at a low angle. It shines across the floor and every bit of grit you’ve walked in from outside, every grain of dust, casts its own little shadow, and you realise how filthy everything has become. And then you stir it all up with the dustpan and brush, or the vacuum cleaner, and suddenly you notice all the little motes dancing in the sunlight, and you wonder whether there’s any point at all.
Fortunately the sun changes its angle of attack as the day rolls on, and after a bit you don’t see the shadows and you don’t see the dust and you can relax.
John, you’re absolutely right about the effect of sunlight on dust and dirt! Terrifying! Is this a good reason for living in the far north with long periods of very little sun?
Yes! At least for the winter half of the year. The rest of the time we have sun, sun, sun – or at least daylight most of the hours of the day. And then there’s nothing for it but to break out the dusters and the vacuum cleaner.
🙂