Procrastination

A friend sent me a message that said that someone had dropped something on their kitchen floor, wiped it up, followed it by a good mopping, and then marveled at how clean the floor was. I love that. Don't we often sit and see things the way that they are instead of the way that they could or should be? I know I do. Every morning while I'm getting dressed.

Now I don't suggest replacing your Mr. Clean with sour cream, but I do suggest looking for those little things in life that you could easily improve with just a little bit of effort. Do you wince when you pass your closet? Well, take everything out of it and only put back what you love. At best, you'll be excited and exhilarated about finding items that were lost in the bowels of your closet. You'll also have a nice pile of stuff to bless the local Goodwill or charity of your choice with and have the opportunity to get a receipt for your 2010 taxes (Score!) At worst, you'll bag everything up and have to go shopping. Yeah, THAT would suck (not).

Those little things in life sometimes keep us motivated to press on. The problem is...we procrastinate because we'd rather be sitting in front of the television set watching "American Chopper" "Dancing With the Stars" or something equally heinous.

We often dodge what is right in front of us because we don't want to expend the effort to correct whatever it is. The piles of junk on the counter...the form that needs to be returned...the light on the dashboard of the car...the patio furniture that is changing colors. We just avoid it, ignore it, or just whine about it...instead of fixing it.

Maybe this weekend we can take a few minutes and just look at the possibilities. Face head on those dragons that steal our joy and make us fail to appreciate everything that we have. Because if we don't face them...God has a funny way of making us face them. An overdue bill...being stranded on the side of the road...being mortified when we have unexpected company...or upsetting a carton of sour cream on our kitchen floor so we'll have to clean it.

I have a friend with the opposite problem. She sends memos to her staff about which way the toilet paper is supposed to be put on the roll in the communal bathroom, and dust knows better than to land anywhere near her home or workspace. She deals with things before they happen. I would find that exhausting. I suppose somewhere between the two extremes is probably something representing normal.

So, today, head on out and find something you want to make better. Deal with something that has sat on your mind (or your counter) far too long. Pick the stuff up and just set fire to it if you have to. Just get it gone.

(Well, don't set the house on fire just because you can't clean out your closet...call me first. I'm so serious.)