What is one thing that you need to get done but can't? §

This is one of those questions usually worth avoiding.

I have several things in my life that have gathered significant entropy. The problem is none of them have a deadline attached. No deadline, no results. That’s just how I run things around here.

My gun-to-head answer would be: downsizing my stuff.

In starting the new year, I moved from my normal bedroom to the guest room. I have an airbed, my desk, one set of shelves, and about 5 linear feet of closet space. My goal is to move into the small room, only bringing in what I use daily. When a certain equilibrium is reached I should be able to sort through the rest.

Having some physical distance from the mostly unused stuff will hopefully let me gain some mental distance too. Then the stuff I don’t use daily can be sorted. I expect a good portion of it will go to charity.

So what’s the hold up?

I just don’t think I have enough emotional distance yet. This is something that needs to be done a little each day. There’s too much to do in just one sitting. Since I’m out of the room, I can just ignore it now.

For comparison, I don’t have a lot stuff to start with. Almost everything I owned fit into a medium-large bedroom to begin with. I like to travel light. My record for mobility was eleven apartments in nine years.

Part of my reluctance might be I’ve already cut close to the bone, stuff-wise. This last cut might as well be a life reboot.

Nature might set a deadline for me. The guest room has a large window in a small wall. It faces due south. Once the season starts to turn, this room will get too hot to work in. I should have until Valentine’s Day before that happens. By then summer should be getting real close.1

Deadline set. Now I can get moving.

1. Phoenix weather has four seasons: summer, Hades, monsoon, and fall. ↩