Reorganization

There are a number of events in one's life that will let you know just how much things in your life aren't working.

I've recently found myself in one of these life-changing moments, and am realizing that despite my ability to do so, and my love of being, or even becoming organized.. many aspects of my life are a mess. Layer upon layer of mess strewn over mess. This will not do.

From the very surface, organization is neat and tidy. I'm not so daft as to think that life is, or should be, or even can be put into a number of index cards, and shuffled about, or even with modern technology, stuffed into a database, all searchable, and indexed. However, I think many aspects of it can be. The challenge is figuring out how; the rules of how you categorize the things in your house or apartment, the tasks that you have to deal with on a regular basis, even the friends that you want to get together with for a drink, or to write a consoling letter. I think this is part of the thing that wasn't working for me.

I've cataloged my music at some great cost of time and energy. It's not hard to file papers, it just takes time. Even cleaning a house from top to bottom isn't tough, it takes a bit of muscle, and time, but it's not hard. The difficult thing is not the work, or even finding time to do it in, it's planning howto do it, and what to do with it. I have a system that's worked fairly well over the years for my music, and it takes some work, but again, it's worked for me. But I didn't just do it. I planned it. Perhaps the most frustrating part is trying to stick to it. Converting this into that, and cataloging it properly is a pain. But I can find what I want to when I want to without much searching. That's the payoff.

So, I wonder. If I can define a set of rules for many of the other things in my life, can I organize them much in the same way? Can I sort out the layers of mess, and make sense of it all? Is it worth it? Or is there something else more worthy of my time and attention?