I know that there are those among my readers who simply will not relate to this post at all (your house is in order, you love neatness and orderliness and can’t imagine EVER letting things go so long that you’re going to feel this overwhelmed!)  You have permission to stop reading and go play in your craft room.  This post is for the rest of us that would categorize ourselves somewhere between "slightly messy" and "total slob."

Most of the time I would classify myself just to the right of "slightly messy" but right now?  There’s only one problem with taking a vacation when you work for yourself, the elves quit working when you’re gone and absolutely everything piles up waiting for your return!    As I am looking at my disastrous studio, a bedroom still filled with luggage to empty and stow and a house that might have gotten a little bit away from us BEFORE we left and hasn’t gotten any better since our return, I thought I would share some of the things I’ve learned about how to proceed to wrestle life back into order when all is in chaos and disarray.

When life gets a little out of control most of us "messies" have coping mechanisms that enable us to wrestle it back in line, but when it’s REALLY out of control it’s so easy to just want to sit down and throw a pity party!  When no matter how hard you work TODAY it won’t look much different it’s hard to get motivated to get moving.  But the Lord has taught me a couple of things that have been so helpful over the years because this is a battle I face often.

Being a creative person, I work in insane spurts.  I’m either "full on" or "full off" and when I’m working full speed ahead, I often let other areas of my life go a little bit unattended (okay, must be honest as husband reads my blog — A LOT unattended!)  Then when my energy is spent and I can’t take another step I look up and see chaos and feel utterly overwhelmed.  The truth is, virtually every top level artist or crafter that I know has exactly the same pattern and struggle.  And since many of you are also creatives here’s some of my tips for digging out:

1. Don’t look at the big picture or you’ll just quit before you start!  Look at the overall picture just enough to decide what is the MOST IMPORTANT thing you must attend to and do it.  If you have no clothes to wear it’s probably to attack the mountain of laundry!  Is there a stack of bills on the kitchen counter?  If you want electricity to operate your computer you’d better handle it.
2. Once the most imporant, life-impacting things are attended to, look for the tasks that you can do the most easily and quickly.  Why?  Because when you can see improvement you start to feel better and build momentum to finish the rest of the tasks.  During the winter we often end up with 4 quilts strewn around the living room.  It’s amazing how much better the room looks when those simple items are folded and put away.
3. Be realistic.  It’s better to have one room (or area of your life) totally cleaned each day than scatter gun your efforts in such a way that you don’t see any improvement at all.  Start with the most visible or used areas (leave the guest room alone until you’re going to have guests!)
4. Get your room/house into okay shape before you attempt the super-detailed cleaning projects like washing windows or dusting the china cabinet.  Don’t get bogged down in extreme cleaning a single area.
5. Make it a game.  I’m really good at playing head games with myself!  I set a timer and race to see what I can get accomplished in 15 minutes.  It’s really amazing how much difference you can make this way.  I also will mix rewards in so if I’m reading a really great book I’ll tell myself that I can read a chapter if….  After a while, I don’t even want to read the book anymore because I get on a roll.
6. An empty trash can is an invitation to quick cleaning!  I love to bring in a giant trash can and start filliing it with the left over papers, magazines or stuff that builds up in my studio.  It really motivates me to deal with things realistically.  If I am not likely to ever need it again and it has no value to the Goodwill, it’s gone!
7. Set a reasonable amount of time a day you can devote to the project and do it.  Then stop when that time is done.  If it’s 1/2 an hour a day in a week you might see huge results, but if you do an explosive evening’s work that tires you out for the week, you’ll just end up being in a worse place.  It’s really amazing what small consistent bursts of energy can accomplish and it’s one of the worst areas for those of us who are creative to master.
8. Know that no matter how good you clean and organize, realisticaly it’s going to fall apart again.  Just work at stretching the times between the falling apart and how badly you allow it to fall apart and you might just discover that you actually like keeping on top of it more than you thought you would!

Unfortunately,I’m not going to be able to implement my strategy to take control over my house today as I still have work projects to deal with, but I’m getting myself psyched up to do it and might tackle an hour or two later today!  Good luck to those of you that will be able to do so. 

THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Ps 65:1-4  Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.  O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.  When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.   Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!  We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.  NIV

PRAYER:  Lord, over and over I have "vowed" to make changes in my life and yet find myself right back in the same place, battling the same sense of being overwhelmed again and again.  It doesn’t surprise you, and I know you don’t want me to run away and hide.  I know you want me to come to you again and again if I must, to gather the strength and wisdom to make changes in my life. 

Remind me that You want to bring me near to you to live in your courts, not chasten me and drive me away.  Give me the ability to make the changes that I need to make in my life and the strength to continue in them.  AMEN