Organizing my mind

I fancy myself a fairly organized person. I make lists and calendars and set my phone to beep at me just before important (yet easily forgettable events). And still, every morning when I go to change from my PJs to my workout clothes (okay, not every morning), I walk into my closet and sift through a ginormous spandex lump. It's ridiculous really. I just sort of stick my arm into the pile and fish around, hoping to come out with the requisite items (does anyone else's closet make sports bras disappear into thin air?). And, generally, I also have to traipse over to the laundry room and root through the dryer. And then back to my closet where I throw the lump on the ground and finally, FINALLY find the item I am looking for. Ugh.

Sometimes, when I am really on my game, I lay out my workout clothes the night before. This just means I do the fishing and dumping at night instead of in the morning.

Also, I may be supporting some fat-cat Target executives because I often buy JUST ONE MORE workout outfit while I'm browsing the aisles for toilet paper and Nate Berkus animal heads. You see I'm just positive that if I had enough workout gear, THEN I could locate a pair of shorts and a moisture wicking shirt EASILY. I'm sure of it.

You can probably see where this is going. On Thursday, I asked myself, "Self, why don't you organize these clothes better so you know what you have and can find what you need?"

And then I answered myself, "Because. Netflix."

Not really. I pulled down the lycra lump (once again) along with 2,749 miscellaneous t-shirts and set to sorting. I put about 2/3 of the lump into the donate bin, folded up the rest, and placed the remains neatly on the shelves. When Friday morning rolled around, I leapt out of bed, skidded into the closet, and opened my arms wide to the beauty of my neatly-aligned workout-clothes-shelf. I screamed, "VOILA," to absolutely nobody. And then I got dressed.

I was so pumped by my organized closet shelf, that when I opened the door to my linen/bathroom closet, I decided to roll up my sleeves there as well. Because I'm very anxious about teeth, everyone in my family gets their teeth cleaned every six months religiously. For this reason, I have 127 travel-sized rolls of dental floss. Also, toothbrushes TIMES INFINITY. Travel shampoos, lotions, sunblocks, THREE fingernail clippers (been looking for those things), brushes, combs, deoderent -- just LOTS of personal hygiene items all jumbled together. And linens? So many old sheets and towels that we don't really use anymore. I got rid of 2/3 of our linens, lined the shelves with some groovy shelf paper, and piled it all back in.

Sometimes, in the middle of the day I open the closet door just to look inside. It makes me feel happy and calm.

I had forgotten how invigorating and peaceful a properly organized space can be. Why can't I remember and practice this? My point is that organizing our material world can be a powerful way to lessen the chaos of our minds. So, yes, spring cleaning is coming a bit early round these parts. Join me?

Up next on deck? My hanging clothes. There are items there I haven't touched since 2006. Not kidding.