Sometimes You Have To Tear A Room APart Before It Can Get Organized: A Lesson In How To Work Through Your Mess

I love keeping a tidy space. I work best in this atmosphere. Creative ideas flow more freely, I'm more relaxed. If you were to look at my workspace right now, you wouldn't believe me, but I promise you it's true. 

Ever since I was little, when things started to accumulate in my room, I would get a surge of anxiety and feel completely overwhelmed. In that moment, I would take everything off of every shelf, and out of every drawer and closet. Mounds of toys, papers, books, and clothes would be everywhere in my little room. I barely had a path to walk through. 

In those moments of complete and utter disaster, I hoped my parents didn't walk in to see the mess because I knew making an even bigger mess was part of the process. 

In time, I always was able to get everything back in its right place. I would revel in that moment. I felt like I could finally breathe again.

I recently noticed that it's not only with cleaning my room that I go through this process, it's with all of my creative work. 

Since beginning in January, The Solutionary School has been constantly evolving. We have been accumulating more and more ideas, building programs offerings, and exploring who we are and where we want to go.

It was starting to feel like I was that little girl looking around her room, seeing the piles of "things" grow. I was starting to feel that surge of anxiety bubble up. 

Taking a lesson from my younger self, I knew that I had to take everything out of our website closets and drawers and start from the floor up. It was time to tackle the mounds of mission statements, taglines, program ideas I accumulated. One by one, I sorted through each pile and put it back in its place. 

Sometimes you have to tear a room apart before it can get organized. Sometimes the best thing you can do is roll up your sleeves and work through the mess.