 Restoring
Order to Your Home
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CBN.com –Wouldn’t
you like to know how you got disorganized in the
first place? We’re in the middle of a series
addressing that very question.
Last week we covered “habitual
disorganization:” when our bad habits are causing
our disorganization. This week we will explore
“historical disorganization:” when we create order
or disorder based upon our familial experience.
Historical
Disorganization
Whatever your experience with
order has been, you likely have responded to that
experience in your adult life. You may have
embraced or rejected order based upon your history
with it. Becoming cognizant of your past
experience with order will help you discover where
your feelings about organizing have developed.
Discovering if you are historically disorganized
is not about laying blame on your family; it’s
about gaining insight so you can move forward. As
you become aware of your sources of
disorganization, you become equipped to reclaim
your life!
Rebelling Against
Disorganization
My friend Nancy grew up in a clean
but disorganized home. Her mom worked tirelessly
at her job. Since she worked long hours, the last
thing she wanted to do when she got home was to
organize. Time away from home, however, meant that
Nancy’s mom had less time and desire to sort
papers or arrange the pantry. In fact, Nancy’s mom
rebelled against organizing the home and preferred
to spend her time doing other things.
As a result, there were lots of
junk drawers and mystery cabinets throughout the
house and Nancy grew up surrounded by
disorganization. After school, Nancy would search
for a snack in the overcrowded pantry and
everything she sampled was stale. Food in the
refrigerator frequently spoiled due to poor
planning. The kitchen table was piled so high with
papers that Nancy couldn’t sit there to do her
homework. As a result, Nancy relocated her
homework activities and attempted to distractedly
complete her assignments in front of the
television. Nancy did not learn organizing skills
at home and adapted her life and work style around
the disorder. Disorganization within the home can
alter the way we use our space. We behave in
unproductive ways when we are faced with
disorganization.
Wired for order, Nancy grew up
annoyed with the disorganization. Nancy vowed that
when she grew up, she would never live in a
cluttered environment like her family’s home. She
wanted to acquire skills she didn’t learn in her
childhood.
In some cases like Nancy’s, we
rebel against the disorganization we grew up with,
and we resolve to train ourselves for orderly
living. Due to our disorganized past, we want to
have an organized future. Growing up feeling
out-of-control is not a good feeling, so we
determine to control our environment in our adult
world. Our history with disorganization offers
plenty of proof that the costs of disorder are
significant.
As we reject the disorder of our
past, a re-training process is required. If we
grew up with disorder, we will have to learn how
to create order. Those who live or work with us
may need patience while we develop new skills and
practice new habits. Re-training can help us gain
skills we didn’t learn in childhood, thereby
correcting the past.
Embracing Disorganization
Unlike Nancy, sometimes we succumb
to our disorganized past. Since we were not taught
to organize our belongings or our time, we never
learned the skills to tackle clutter. Since we
didn’t acquire organizing skills in our youth, we
enter our adult lives ill-equipped to manage the
onslaught of paper and tasks that comes with
employment. We can’t believe someone else is
horning in on our work, micro-managing us, and
telling us to clean up after ourselves. We want to
live in the way we’ve always known; it might not
be organized, but it is familiar.
Rebelling Against Order
Of
course, the opposite of Nancy’s story is also
true. Some of us grew up in impeccable homes where
perfectionism reigned supreme. As we enter
adulthood, we may rebel against the order we
experienced perceiving that it was imposed to
restrain us instead of to release us. You may be
someone who grew up in a museum of order. Along
with the order came rules and restrictions.
Perhaps you have rebelled as a result.
Instead of rebelling against
order, did you know there is another alternative?
Your current definitions of order are likely along
the lines of control, authority, and restraint.
You can change your definitions of order! By
altering your definitions of order you can change
your opinion of it. If you began to define order
to include freedom, peace, and sanity, wouldn’t
organizing be less threatening and more inviting?
If you have rebelled against orderly living in
your childhood, I invite you to embrace the
positive benefits of order. By changing your
definition of order, you can escape your past and
begin to experience true peace.
Embracing Order
Finally, some of us
grew up in a showcase of order and we embraced it.
We loved the orderly lifestyle then and we love it
now. We are organizing junkies! We can’t
understand why others would knowingly and
willingly live in chaos. We bring our organizing
skills into our own adult world and adapt them to
our unique needs. We recognize that organizing is
not a series of regimented activities, but a
method of discovery that allows us to correct the
things that are not working in our environment and
time. We know that organizing isn’t a strict set
of rules; it is a means of liberation!
Begin Anew
If you are fed up with living disorganized, you
can change! Organizing is--above all--a change
process. You can actually change your life by
restoring order to your environment. As you begin
to prune out the unnecessary, superfluous deadwood
in your life and calendar, your haphazard
existence will begin to settle down. As peace is
restored to your space, your mind will begin to
clear up as well as you sanity returns. I’ve seen
it hundreds of times…order really does bring more
freedom and calm to your life.
Read
How Did I Get So
Disorganized, Part 1, and
Part 2.
Adapted from:
Restoring Order™ copyright © 2006 by Vicki Norris
(available now at
www.RestoringOrder.com and in July 2007as
Reclaim Your Life™. Copyright © 2007). Published
by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by
permission.
About the Author: Vicki Norris is
an expert organizer, business owner, speaker,
television personality, and author who inspires
people to live out their priorities. Norris is a
regular on HGTV’s nationally syndicated Mission:
Organization, and is a recurrent source and
contributor to national lifestyle publications
including Quick & Simple magazine, Better Homes &
Gardens, and Real Simple magazine. Norris is also
author of Restoring Order™ to Your Home, a
room-by-room household organizing guide.
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