There’s something about checking off tasks that is just insanely satisfying.
This week, with lots more time on my hands than I am used to having (love it!), I tackled the items I have been putting off for months. Shamefully, I wish I were exaggerating but I am not.
Does anyone else have a drawer full of paperwork that needs attention? Can I just say that I actually had an unopened electric statement from November? I located a 1098 statement that I forgot to include on our tax return, too. That, alone, is irritating ~ probably shorted myself like $1.25 on my tax return. Awesome coupons were in that drawer, long ago expired. Christmas greeting cards (oops), a running magazine (I forgot I even ran!), and a wedding card for somebody that had never been signed.
What started as a 4″ pile of randomness was reduced to a manageable 1″ pile pretty quickly. I had to ask myself why I kept throwing stuff in that drawer and the answer was twofold. One, W hates anything on the counter (oh, except his random pile of sunglasses, wallet, iPod and work ID cards). Two, I lied and told myself I’d open that drawer and go through it the next day.
Guess what happened? The more junk that was thrown in there, the more I avoided the task. I procrastinated…too bad that’s not a lucrative or marketable skill.
Anyway, this week I stared at that menacing drawer from across the room, threw back a shot (of caffeine~duh), and went in with both barrels. I attacked and conquered, I sorted and purged, and I smiled and celebrated. It was so good that I hit another task and another after that ~ there was no stopping me! The frenzy was kind of reminiscent of my moms cleaning rampages…well, minus the drawer of randomness. She never had those.
There’s a moral to this triumphant story. Obviously, there’s something to be said for entering your kitchen without dread but, more importantly, the task wasn’t nearly as daunting as I had imagined in my head. Things we dread rarely are. I had avoided this manageable burden to the point where it had become completely unmanageable in my head. 
There is no time like the present to do the things we don’t want to do…from household chores to apologizing to confronting to forgiving. Maybe it’s been something you’ve thought about doing for awhile and you’ve labeled it too big to deal with…chances are it’s still manageable and you can walk away feeling like you conquered something and that’s worth celebrating.