Disorganized Space | Time for Studio Cleaning & Organizing

Today I’ve started working on a task that’s been on my to-do list for the whole year. It’s one I procrastinate for as long as I can, it seems. But it just can’t go on like it is any longer, and I must make progress on my disorganized space and do the studio cleaning & organizing.

Painting sitting idle

I’m waiting for the pigment of a yellow that I need before I start working on my painting again. This part of the process takes the longest, because before the pigment can dry, it has to undergo washing to get the fine particles that make a smooth paint.

Right now, I have some dried and waiting, and more still settling and getting ready to dry. But it’s not the yellow I need most. However, yesterday I found some rocks that will give me that yellow, so more still to come on this end of my painting process.

I also need black, but I have the soot washed and ready to put into the mortar and pestle to grind.

Disorganized Space

Trying to do anything in a disorganized space is irritating and tedious. But it’s amazing how long I can go before the discomfort of the problem outweighs the discomfort of getting on with the solution.

This reluctance to do the things I need to do to make the changes I need to make extends beyond my messy studio and office space. It’s across the board in my life. But I’m just recognizing this today, and so, instead of waiting for a New Year’s Resolution list, I’m going to start working on this now.

My goal for the rest of my life is to quit procrastinating so much on things that will improve my life.

Things Within My Control

The other thing I’m realizing is that there are some things that just are not within my control, no matter how much I try to make myself believe that it is. But, there are lots of things that are.

I spend a lot of time in a state of anxiety over things I can’t really control. It’s robbing me of sleep and will cause other problems if I don’t address this. Taking action on a small thing, like organizing and cleaning my disorganized space, is helping me feel like at least something is under my own command.

To be fair to myself, though, getting this space organized is not a small job. I need to throw a LOT of things out.

What slows me down is going through papers and things I might need to throw out. Just now I found a letter from my grandmother, a treasured item I want to keep. There’s no telling how long it would have stayed lost had I not embarked on this task today. She died a couple of years after that letter, so I am so glad to put it back in the display case with other old family memorabilia.

So the going is slow because I don’t want to accidentally throw out something I’ll wish I had saved.

Painting is Control and Not-Control

I think this is why I enjoy painting so much. There is a great deal of the process that is under my control. But to get a really good result, I have to let go of a lot of the control, too. It’s an excellent exercise in doing just that, and I love it. If it doesn’t work out in the end, I can just start over. And that’s the best part – low impact consequences, high-impact effect either way.

Both the letting go and the opportunity to practice a skill that demands control is beneficial to my mental health, and the end results, if I like them are uplifting to my spirits. If I don’t like them, no big loss. I can just paint over it and try again. The trying again is yet more practice to hone the skills I do want to be able to control.

The creative practice satisfies my need for both control and letting go, and I can’t think of many other things that allow this sort of duality. Do you know of any?

Back to Work Organizing my Disorganized Space

There’s evidence that disorganized spaces can affect mental health, and I believe it. I’m making progress, so back to work I go. Getting my disorganized space and my squirrely mind back under my control 🙂

Soundtrack I’m Listening To