Just one thing

Last year I made a person. And…that’s pretty much it. Between nausea and exhaustion in my first trimester, intense daily headaches that prevented me from doing pretty much anything in my second trimester, and being gigantically pregnant and swollen and SO DANG HOT in my third trimester, I let a lot of things slide. My girls got used to watching way more TV than I’d prefer. We had takeout pretty frequently. It was a really good day if I vacuumed.

Not to say it wasn’t a good year, because it was. But it wasn’t exactly a productive one.

I don’t know if it’s the freshness of January or all the motivational reading I’ve been doing or just the fact that I can move again without clutching my head in pain or grunting and panting like a ninety-year-old man, but I’ve been bitten by a gigantic productivity bug.

Of course, after a year of mostly slacking off, there is a whole heckuvalot of things to get done. If I were to make a list, I’d probably quit before I even started and run away to a beach in Mexico. Adios, responsibilities! I’m off to start una vida nueva!

So I’m not making a list.

I know. It’s very out of character for me. I adore lists.

It’s just that there are far too many things for a list to be helpful. I’d start writing and get overwhelmed by everything I’ve been procrastinating for a year or more and convince myself that I’m a failure who will never catch up. No, friends. That way lies madness. And Mexico. Instead, I’ve decided to wake up each day with this simple plan in mind:

Just one thing.

Just get one thing done that I’ve been putting off. Finish just one project, however big or small. Tackle just one pile of clutter. Replace just one broken or worn-out item. Whether I do it first thing in the morning, right before bed, or it takes all day, I will do just one thing to clear my head and get things back on track.

So far I’ve touched up the paint around the irregular edges of the kitchen backsplash, found homes for all my cake plates, bought new underwear (you really do not want to know how long I’ve been meaning to do that), set up an automatic savings plan with the bank, strung together a felt ball garland, thrown away all the socks that haven’t had mates for months, donated several boxes of things to the thrift store, got new plants to fill a couple empty pots, had a print I bought ages ago matted and framed, organized my jewelry, and more.

On their own, they’re pretty small accomplishments, but taken together they felt so daunting. Which task is most important? If I’m already out at the craft store, shouldn’t I stop by Home Depot and the book store and the post office too? Where are all the supplies I need? How do I even do that??

I’m trying not to overthink it. Again, not normal for me. But if I just choose each day when one thing I will do, and then I do it, eventually it will all get done. It’s pretty straightforward.

Today I intend to address the weed situation in the front yard. Tomorrow, I have no idea. All I know is, something will get done. Even if it is just one thing.