Getting Organized- Why Is It Even Worth the Trouble?

Closets full of color-coordinated separates hanging, equally spaced, on matching hangers.   

Spices, lined up alphabetically, each jar equidistant from the cabinet’s edge.  Each label reflecting the overhead kitchen light just so.  

Sigh.

That right there is the sound of contentment as it passes through your lips. 

Those ARE things of beauty; there is NO doubt.   

As a matter of fact, I firmly believe you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who would willingly choose shirts dangling willy-nilly from hangers left askew or spices teetering devil-may-care out of overstuffed cupboards.  Can you say midnight tripping hazards?!

A girl’s gotta be careful though.  That beautiful imagery up there?  It can be dangerous.  

See, it’s super easy to get caught up in the trappings of an outwardly organized life.  Trappings that, instead of freeing you from the soul-crushing C.R.A.P. (chaos, resentment, anxiety, and panic) of everyday-ness, serve as just another prison in which we find ourselves locked.  Just another failure we find ourselves guilty of.  

Gorgeously patterned bins filled just shy of the brim.

Closets full of color-coordinated separates hanging, equally spaced, on matching hangers. 
Spices, lined up alphabetically, each jar equidistant from the cabinet’s edge.  Each label reflecting the overhead kitchen light just so.  

Sigh.

This time though?  Instead of contentment, it’s despair that escapes you.  Disappointment because, no matter how hard you try, you can never live up to or keep up with that standard.  
Bins?  You’re lucky if they’re not being used as some sort of elaborate booby trap by your 11-year-old.

Hanging clothes?  

That’s negotiable.  You just hope they’re clean.  More or less. 

Spices?  

You haven’t cooked in who knows when!  The only spices readily available in your house are those packets that Papa John’s sends sometimes instead of that really yummy garlic dip.

Deep breath, okay?  

I’m getting ready to tell you something SUPER important.  

More important than making sure that your midnight route to the bathroom is free of obstacles.

More important than not getting caught in whatever your 11-year-old is plotting. 

Organizing isn’t an end in itself.  It’s a means to a bigger end.  To a bigger life.  

Lemme say that again. 

Organizing isn’t an end in itself. 

What the crap does that mean? 

It means that we don’t organize just so we can say something is “organized.”  It means that we don’t organize just so we can be the most “organized.”  

It means that all that work we have to put in to GET organized and STAY organized isn’t just wasted energy.  

It’s not like that weird tissue paper stuff that you used to find in wedding invitations.  Or the serving recommendation on a pillow cased size bag of M&Ms.
It’s not pointless.

Organization isn’t just so we can say we did it. 

It’s a means to a bigger end.  To a bigger life. 

See, the true purpose of organization is to help us get somewhere we really wanna go or to be something we really wanna be.  

You don’t get organized for those gorgeous bins.  I mean, yeah, they’re a perk, but I don’t care how cute those suckers are!  When the chips are down if they don’t serve you and serve you WELL, they just become more nonsense for you to trip over in the middle of the night.  

You don’t get organized so you can conduct a nightly closet tour through your color coordinated and equally spaced hanging separates.  Sure, it looks amazing, but if the return on investment isn’t high enough, if it takes too much effort to keep up with, you’re setting yourself up for failure. 

You don’t get organized so your neighbors’ jaws drop in awe when the light glints perfectly off of your alphabetical and equidistant spice jars.  Who doesn’t want to be put on the pedestal of organizing greatness, but when the stress of maintaining that system means you’re still not cooking?  When the only thing you’ve gotten out of all that effort is a display piece? How can that possibly serve you?

The short answer is, it doesn’t.  

Did you hear me?

It. Doesn’t. 

The whole point of organization is to serve US.  

The whole point of organization is to make OUR LIVES BETTER.

We don’t live our lives so our houses don’t get messy.  We set up our houses so when the mess happens, and it’s gonna, it’s fixable in ten minutes. 

We don’t organize our paperwork so we have an excuse to buy those cute folders from Paper Source.  We organize our paperwork so we don’t leave the house screaming at our spouse because the electric bill has gone unpaid.  

We get organized so our days run more smoothly.  So our home is more peaceful.  So we have the time, space, and energy for the good stuff- the IMPORTANT stuff- in life.  

Organization isn’t an end in itself.  It’s a means to a bigger end.  To a bigger life. 

What’s that bigger life look like to you?  

Maybe you want to get organized so getting ready for work in the morning doesn’t leave you in tears and running late more often than not.  So you have a better chance of getting the promotion you’ve been working so hard for.  The promotion that will be SO good for you and your family.

Maybe you want to get organized because you’re tired of spending your weekends fighting with your spouse about who has to clean up the house when, in truth, neither one of you has a clue where to start. Because you’re dying to spend that time filling your cup in your garden or the zoo or hiking together. Because the very fabric of your relationship is slowly being eaten away by the stress of it all. 

See, before we even think about jumping into the fray and doing the work of getting organized, we’ve gotta know why. 

WHY.

What’s our motivation?  What’s that good stuff that more time, space, and energy is gonna get us?  What’s gonna be worth the work to maintain that space?  What’s gonna be worth the discipline to guard that time and energy?  

Big picture, what do you want?

WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT?  

If you’ve done Abby’s Legacy Goal Setting?  You’ve totally got a jump on the answer to that.  If you haven’t, you can totally hop on over there and get started, or you can take a few minutes and just start writing things down.  Writing down what REALLY matters to you.  I’d love to hear what makes the list!