During this eerie time in our lives, it’s more important than ever to be still and know that mighty in the midst of this, God is with us. My heart problem, which by the way, is common and fixable with a procedure that’s been postponed because of COVID-19 and considered an elective surgery, has compelled me to deep breathing and touching base with God within me more than I ever have before. Because I’m taking five drugs to keep my heart from beating like I’m on a treadmill, I’ve wanted to sleep most of the time. Ambition to write to you all about being organized (something I ordinarily love to do) has been right up there with wanting a colonoscopy.
But today I received a snail mail letter from one of my readers and it gave me the urge to write to you. She explains what she’s learned from being disorganized and how it impacted her in a negative way. But more importantly the positive lessons her disorder has taught her. I hope it inspires you to think about what you’ve learned.
Dear Pam,
I’ve been gradually getting organized while in quarantine. The 3x5 system is a God send. My weekly plan is beginning to sow positive results, just having time to write to you is testimony to it. In this quiet “desk day” time I asked myself, what have I learned in my life by being disorganized?
Here’s what I came up with. Being disorganized cost me a lot of money. Late fees, speeding tickets, bounced checks, extra trips to town (10 miles away) because I was list-less and didn’t remember things I needed when in town. Being disorganized has been embarrassing especially when unexpected company showed up. Once my husband’s boss and his wife showed up to surprise him with a bonus. My living room looked like the scene in a movie about druggies, except there was no drug paraphernalia. Being late to things was embarrassing. Forgetting birthdays was embarrassing. Running out of gas on the highway was embarrassing especially because I was in baby dolls with a coat over them.
Being disorganized cost me opportunities by not keeping an updated calendar, missing meetings and appointments. Being disorganized caused me lots of stress with meals not on time or healthy, staying up too late and waking up too late. I can’t count how many times the kids missed the bus and I’d have to drive them (in pjs) to school.
BUT the good thing I’ve learned is that I’m resilient, creative, playful, gregarious. Being disorganized never affected my love of my family and friends.
Seeing myself travelling to the other side of the disorganized road I’m actually thankful for what I’ve put myself through by being disorganized. And when I learned from you that all I really needed was direction, I was ready to shed the low self-esteem that went along with a disorganized life.
Thank you,
Lucy
We who know and understand what it’s like to be disorganized have learned a great lesson. To be the kind of person who can be disorganized is a blessing. We have far more experiences living in the moment. We’ve taken time to play with our children and grandchildren, delighted in sunsets and smelling the roses. It’s true that all we lack is direction and when we get direction we get organized. Get direction today. It’ll lead you to all you’ve dreamed of.
A good place to start is by reading "Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise." It’s available as a download, Amazon if you want a printed copy or on Kindle
.