At long last, more unfuckery! Today I attacked a literally-hidden corner.
I keep that painting there for a few reasons:
- It isn’t quite finished and I’ve been meaning to do something about that for ages
- I don’t have any particularly better place to store it
- It hides an otherwise terrible corner
There are 2 unused printers, an unused monitor (to be used soon), a tub of electronic stuff (already sorted), a crate full of sketchbooks, a bag full of sketchbooks, a pile of drawings and binders full of drawings, two piles of assorted papers, a box of old cards, and my paint cart.
There ended up being 36 sketchbooks, and I know I’ve gone through and gotten rid of sketchbooks from the crate and bag before… I tore useful drawings (which were then sorted/stored those appropriately) out of and got rid of some, kept in tact the oldest ones which I really want to keep, and removed drawings from and set aside those which weren’t fully used. I ended up tossing 22 sketchbooks, and it is amazing.
Paint cart got organized, assorted papers were tossed or filed, printers are staying there for now. The blue crate is full of blank sketchbooks and unused supplies (some of which was previously in a crate on the shelf, which now just contains old artworks, including the stuff which was kept from today). Painting is back in place in front of the corner, but now it’s not for purpose of hiding things, and there’s space to store inactive paintings behind the easel now!
It took an entire afternoon of 20/10s, but I no longer dread what lurks behind the easel. Thanks UfYH!
I just realized I’ve been thinking about my Hidden Corners as all-or-nothing.
When I need to get into Hidden Corner #3, I open the armoire (barely, so nothing falls out) and I deposit whatever item is going to hide in there from now on (right on top…ish) and quickly close the door. Mostly I try not to think about all the things that are lurking in there.
But I don’t have to be freaked out by it. I can open the door, pull out a handful of stuff, find homes for it, and move on.
One step at a time, right? Any progress is good progress. And I don’t have to figure it all out at once, or even solve it all at once.
I’m counting it as a win that this occurred to me on my own, rather than from a prompt. Ufyh is slowly permeating my life :) More slowly than I thought; I was filled with The Holy Fire when I first started following, and figured I had Found The Solution, and was basically done. But change comes in small steps, and changing my lifetime of thoughts and habits is harder than I thought it would be. I wonder how many more of these “oh… huh” moments I’m going to document here?
Here’s the secret: you’re never really done. But once you get started, it’s the tiniest bit of effort, consistently, and then it’s never horrible again. It’s sustainable.
When I read about “hidden corners” on Unfuck Your Habitat, several areas of my home come to mind. But the first one is always my dresser. Behold:
This is actually a little bit worked on; contents of the Giant Back Pack (two comforters and some pillow cases) were spread out in a giant cloth monster of doom which did not allow me access to my clothes. It’s not a floordrobe for me: it’s a floorbed and an “invisible drawer” that my brain seems to think is on top of the dresser.
Anyway, two 20/10s and two loads of laundry later, we have this:
The floor is clean, btw. I just didn’t realize it wasn’t in the photo (oops!). Due to monetary considerations, two loads of laundry was the max for this week. However, I went ahead and sorted all dirty laundry by type, so the bags and hamper each contain either linens, bottoms, tops, or underwear/socks and I’m all set to go once I get that next roll of quarters.
The next project (after the vacation this weekend) is to Unfuck the Drawers!
PS: Celebrate! I put the laundry AWAY when I finished folding it last night. Yep; I actually had the voice of UFYH in my head reminding me laundry has THREE STEPS. And every time I look at my magic-erasered stove top, I SMILE :)
