There is mountains of paper surrounding me, piles of envelopes threatening to collapse the sorting table, dirty dishes are staging a rebellion in the tea room, our accounts are being audited today, the phone wont stop ringing and my boss is working at warp speed giving me new jobs to do.
I just have no idea where to start; my brain has gone into total melt down. If I so much as look at one of the piles of paper it starts to slide threateningly across the desk precipitating a paper slide of epic proportions.
Well I had better go, I think if I do the dishes I can make at least make a cup of tea and then maybe start a to-do list.
Well I had my cup of tea, then I picked up the first piece of paper on top of mountain and just started working my way down the pile. I’m about 1/4 of the way through, but thats only the pile of paper on my desk. Not thinking about the other work that needs to be done or I’ll go nuts.
The auditor did his thing and has now left, he said I was doing everything OK - phew (big, huge, giant sigh of relief).
The city inspected the apartment units and ordered repairs. My apartment has damage from the 1994 earthquake, plus they city told the owner he has to replace my carpet (which was worn out when I moved in 15 years ago). The owner told me he’d do the work, but I’d have to clear the decks myself. Good god! I have a lot of stuff! I have an almost-100-mile round trip commute to work. I work all day, and then I have to fight L.A. traffic. When I get home, I’m worn out. The storage company closes at 19:00. And the manager is breathing down my neck so they can start work before they get in trouble with the city. No wonder I’m in a pre-ulcerous condition! The apartment thing is the straw that’s straining the camel’s back (or more specifically, my stomach) to the breaking point.
I started by emptying my footlockers of books and putting the books into moving boxes, filling the footlockers with other (lighter) stuff, and putting them into the storage unit I rented. Next I took the TV off of the sea chest and moved the sea chest with dad’s stuff in it and the other sea chest with my models in it. Then I started on the front closet, putting things in standard-sized boxes, packing my videos and DVDs (a big job). Next came other stuff into other boxes. I was hot and sweaty and my muscles hurt, but I’ve got the front of the flat cleared out almost completely. (Due to my job, I can only do the apartment on weekends. Hey, I don’t work for the owner! If he wants me to take time off of work to clear the stuff out of here, he can buy my time.)
So… Just pick a starting point. It doesn’t really matter where. Just start on one part, work on it until it’s done, and the rest will follow.
