Genetically Disorganized People Love Drama

My Aunt Tottie was extremely disorganized and was she ever dramatic! My mother was a BOP (Born Organized Person) and she used to roll her eyes over the way Aunt Tottie lived. She was a lousy housekeeper, wore baggy clothes day in and day out and rarely put on make-up, BUT when she did get cleaned up, she was a KNOCK OUT. Mom said when they were young; Aunt Tottie would get all gussied up to go out dancing and she’d make an entrance that would drop jaws. Mom said she looked just like Lauren Bacall.

My aunt loved to get a reaction from BOPs like my mom. I remember one time; watching her in her messy kitchen, make orange juice from a can of frozen concentrate while she talked with my mom. She couldn’t find a clean spoon to stir the three cans of water into the orange lump of concentrate, so she just stuck her whole hand into the pitcher and stirred with it. My mother was horrified.

I think one of the payoffs to being disorganized is the reactions we create. We do love drama and the bigger the mess the more fantastic a clean-up will look. When you keep your home “company ready” you lose the drama of being able to say, “Tah Dah!!!!!” When you look good all the time, you just look good all the time and you don’t get to hear the whistles and “Wow, you look fabulous!!!!!!!!!” We lose the exclamation marks when we get organized, so we need to get them somewhere else.

There are two places you can get them back. One is your creativity. Being disorganized can seem like a curse, but there is a precious gift in it and that is your creativity. In fact you probably already know that your creativity has gotten you into many messes, because when you’re in creative mode you lose track of time. When you get organized you’ll give up the explanation marks for the contrasts between “before” and “after,” but you’ll get them back with rave reviews from what you’ll create when you have a more organized life.

The other way to get your exclamation marks is immediate; by watching movies. I think that’s why we love to go to the show, subscribe to Netflix, watch TV and buy DVDs. It’s probably why prisons show movies. The inmates get to vicariously partake in the drama on the big screen and get it out of their systems. Part of my success at being organized is because I include watching at least two movies each week into my routine.

Your assignment (should you agree to take it) is to get your drama fix from a good movie this week, not from real life mess-ups. Make it a weekly must as you have fun getting organized. Then, when your life is organized you’ll start getting a parade of exclamation marks because the world needs what you have to create for it.