2022 hopefully will go down in history as the “Year I Got My Shit Together.” As I sit down to reflect on the last day of this year, this is the theme I have come up with for the next.
I’ve been using “get your shit together” as my mantra for ages. I say these words to myself at some point almost every day. It can mean anything from “I need to clean up my space,” to “I need to clean up my person,” to “ I need to get organized,” or even “I need to learn how to have fun again.”
My life is messy. Whose isn’t? Mine has gotten messier over the past few years, and a whole lot messier last year. Messy doesn’t mean it isn’t good though. I have nothing really to complain about. I have a good job, a good marriage, great friends. I have people who reach out to help me time and time again. I have a place to live that I am over the moon about. My husband, Tom, and I sold our house a couple of years ago and moved to a townhouse with great indoor and outdoor space, but no yard care or snow removal to tie us down. That freed up so much for us.
Then why is my shit scattered in so many different directions? And where does all my time go?
Who knows, but I can tell you where it doesn’t go, and where I would like to spend more of it.
I haven’t had a haircut in over a year. I haven’t been to a doctor in two, and didn’t complete any of the recommended screenings she wanted me to have. Haven’t had a mammogram in three, (ok, maybe five). I did manage to go to the dentist once in the past eighteen months. You may be thinking that this could all be pandemic related. Sadly, it is not. I can’t use the pandemic for much of an excuse for anything I don’t get done. Truth is, I just don’t ever get around to making the appointments. I tell myself I’ll do it next week, next month, or next year. Only next never happens. I get bogged down in the day to day. I wake up every morning with a plan. Ten minutes after I get out of bed, the plan usually goes to hell. I might get to a few of the things on my todo list, but never all of them, and usually not the ones that I really wanted to do. I find myself slogging through the mundane, cleaning up the messes, and getting lost in pointless activities that mean little or nothing to me. Sure, those things need to get done, but they don’t need to be taking up so much of my energy. I also think a lot about the shoulds. Like, I should be cooking dinner, I should clean the house, or I should go to the grocery store. It’s not like I can give those things up completely. They do all need to get done. Eventually. By somebody. Maybe. I want to find time to do the things I enjoy. And, quit feeling guilty for not doing the things that I should.
So, this year of getting my shit together doesn’t necessarily mean that I will suddenly get organized. That my house will be clean at all times. That I will have dinner on the table every night at six o’clock. (Tom really doesn’t even want dinner every night, popcorn is good.) Or even, that I will manage to get a haircut. There have been some transitions that have happened in the past year that will change my life. It has gotten, and will get, even more complicated. I have some new obligations to contend with that make getting my shit together this year even more imperative. What getting my shit together means to me is I will make an effort to find calmness and satisfaction in the chaos that surrounds me. I will find time to give more. I will find time to take better care of myself and those around me. I will find the capacity within myself for compassion, empathy, patience. (That patience thing is the hardest one, never been good at that.) This blog will be the story of my journey through.
If at the beginning of 2022 I’m feeling like I’m drowning, I want the end to feel like I’m floating in a pool of liquid blue on a cupcake raft. That is my goal. It seems like the perfect year to start. Follow along with me. We can do this together.
GYST (Get Your Sh*t Together)