see as i saw

Clearly most of the world is still on holiday.  I was the sole passenger on my bus for at least a half dozen stops.  The phone didn't ring once.  My inbox rarely required checking.  Half of me wanted to shut down the computer and find my way home, plop mindlessly on the couch.  But there was that list of necessary, yet tediously time-consuming, tasks.  The list that constantly gets de-prioritized.  So I prepped, sorted, organized, and any number of like tasks...accompanied by a box of chocolates, courtesy of the building.

Here's the good news: it's a two-day workweek, followed by a four-day weekend.  Somehow my week off for Christmas hardly registered on my rest and relaxation radar.  Somewhere along the way in life, it became difficult to sleep soundly outside of the comfort of my own abode.  I wonder if that would still be the case if my parents lived in my childhood home?

On an unrelated note, this nightly task is so quickly coming to a close.  As much as I appreciate that people continue to look/read, I'm ready to step back from the daily frequency and revamp my mission for 2013.

Perhaps this makes me strange (of the many things that fall under that category), but I actually like doing laundry.  At least, there's the potential for me to enjoy it.  I must admit that my current set up is less than optimal: scrounging for quarters, waiting for machines, constantly going upstairs and downstairs to switch loads.

I suppose the reward for me is really the folding.  If you've ever seen The Big Bang Theory or worked in a clothing story, you're familiar with some sort of folding board.  I would use one of those.  I went out of my way to use one when I worked in retail.  Yes, it's anal retentive, but there's a certain sense of satisfaction I get out of precision folding my clothes.  No, this doesn't mean I want to come to your house and do your laundry.

Then there's the part of the laundry process that I remember enjoying even as a child.  Although I was less than enthused to be on family laundry duty when I was seven years old, I loved piles of clothes fresh out of the dryer.  I would cover myself in them, absorbing the warmth and the fresh scent.  Although I no longer lay in a pile, I do have a tendency to drape a warm t-shirt over myself.

On a side note, it's funny how the stream of consciousness that is this blog has a tendency to harken back to childhood and adolescent "I remember when..." moments.  I suppose I'll have a really good collection ready when I'm old, so I won't have to recall them on my own.

In my spare, I have become a bit of a blog hunter.  Some of them offer me tutorials for things like recipes and crafty stuff, others help me direct and consider life decisions, many simply show me that there are other people battling with the same concerns and vying for the same hopes as I am.

A lot of these blogs are one time visits for me, a handful hold my attention across multiple posts, but a select few grab my attention to the point that I start reading the archives like a novel.

Today I found myself wading through archives and I know I'll go back for more.  One of the posts that caught me was about an activity that she called "worry cards".  The short back story: she was have a meltdown and decided to wrap her arms around all of the stressors in her head.

Each worry was written on a card, then they were sorted into overarching categories.  Each category was further pared down into things that couldn't be controlled, those that could, and things that were already done and over but still causing anxiety.

First, she addressed each worry that was out of her control, writing on the back of the cards what she wished the desired outcome of each to be.  Since they're out of her control, there is no action to take, only acknowledgment.  Next, she looked at the done and over pile, relegating them to the proper status of no longer relevant with a single sentence on the back of each card.  Accept and move on.

Finally, there are those worries that can be attacked.  How do they become less daunting?  Simply by focusing on the first step that can be taken toward resolution.  Write it on the back.  Then put them in an order of attack, a ready-made task list to being worry free.

Although I can't say that I'm in meltdown mode right now, my over-analytical mind is constantly stewing on multiple things.  It's such a logical way to bring clarity and structure to a mind running astray.  The applications for an exercise like this can be useful across personal or professional instances.

If you want to check out the originator of this concept and her post, it's on the Make Under My Life blog.