The holidays are approaching which means, among other things, stressful experiences.
One great way to prepare for this jolly onslaught is…clean out cabinets. That’s right, utilize one of those mundane must-do chores to allow your brain a moment to wrap itself around the coming season.
What began my version of this soothing ritual was a non-soothing experience of trying to find maple syrup. We were ready for waffles—whipped cream, fruit, nuts, and more—but NO SYRUP. My husband and I searched high and low (him high, me low) but moving many cans and suspicious looking boxes (circa 1975) yielded nary a drop.
But it did alert me to the sad state of my cabinets, as in, unable to readily locate things of edible value.
So the next week, I choose a morning and said zealously, “I will do ONE cabinet.” A tad underachieving, I know, but I do this to mentally psych out my super overachieving side. And wouldn’t you know it, with my baby “helper” by my side (underfoot, attached at the hip, inside the cabinet), not only did I do one, but SEVERAL cabinets.
The experience was so cathartic that I followed it up with a few more unintended cabinets of the non-food variety (as in, the Abyss We Call a Junk Shelf/Drawer, all one through five of them).
My only regret from this experience is that in my gung-ho-ness, I forgot to take before pictures (but maybe that was subconsciously on purpose…) But I include a few of the post-cleaned cabinet shelves (to preserve as proof that they were once clean).
So this week, consider cleaning out that linen closet, under the bathroom shelves, or—do you dare—a side of the garage that holds all seasonal décor? I invite you to be an underachiever and choose one project, and on any given day do one shelf or cabinet. In this endeavor, I promise you will achieve more when you compel yourself to do less.
On a final note, and in that wondrous way that life has of coming full circle, I am happy to report the cherry-on-top from cabinet-cleaning:
I did find the maple syrup.
Best,
Connie
P.S. Join First Lady of Utah, Jeanette Herbert for her “Uplift Families” conference, October 26th, 2013 at the Utah Valley Convention Center. Price is $15 per individual, $25 per couple. Speakers, food, and activities—enjoy!
P.P.S. If you missed my KSL video segment on “Perking Up the Slouch Mom” or KSL Motherhood Matters blog post, you can see them here!
