Yesterday I was stuck.
Today I tried to become unstuck.
Today I’m considering how the tendency toward clutter and mess is balanced by the satisfying process of sorting. I find it calming to sort things. Maybe it’s the tangible results that are so rewarding.
The mail piles up–junk, bills, and an occasional card or letter. I sort it and feel better. The laundry piles up and it must be sorted–lights, whites, darks, and reds (when my athletes all wore red T-shirts for sports). Books get returned to the bookroom and are sorted and filed. The paper involved in teaching reading in 5 grade levels (without enough planning time) creates mountains on my desk. Even if paperless were truly possible, there are endless email messages to sort and process. How fun it is to hit “Delete” over and over in an Inbox!
Today I made progress on clearing out my Outlook Inbox, filing books away, clearing papers off my desk, and re-establishing some order in my workspace. I was surprised how much I got done with a few minutes here and a few minutes there. As I worked, I thought about each of my students, what they needed next, how I could approach a new group starting next week, and conversations that needed to be had with classroom teachers. As my hands worked to manage details and make trash, my mind was slowing down, gratefully becoming unstuck.
pelicansandprose 
It is remarkable how just a few minutes of work can make such a difference. But in our heads those few minutes seem like hours! Thanks for the post!
This post does so many things! For one, it makes us all feel less alone in the world of stuff…stuff that needs sorting and categorizing. And it also gives hope that the efforts to become “unstuck” are worth it. Thanks for sharing these thoughts!
Thank you! I worried that this post was “dumb.” I guess I need to quiet that voice.
Definitely not dumb! Write about anything you want!
You have written about something I’ve noticed before but not put into words – how the process of sorting and sifting and ! deleting is often a time of prioritizing, organizing and identifying needs.
stuck to unstuck
I love this line “my mind was slowing down, gratefully becoming unstuck.” Gratefully. How nice to think of my mind being grateful, slowing down, sorting out, THROWING AWAY are all good things.
I have piles all over my life. I am maybe, finally figuring out how to get them all filed away. Trying to get unstuck. I even found myself at work the other day looking at my desk and thinking, oh no it’s starting to get messy again and cleaned it up. That may not sound so crazy but before this year, the mess I saw the other day would have been clean! So my standards have changed, which is good!
Glad you were able to slow down and unstick.
Sometimes I will set the timer for just 15 min. and am amazed at how much I can declutter and sort in that small amount of time. This slice is lovely.