Sunday I kind of slacked on the Big Spring Clean. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I purged 27 items. More than 27, actually. I raided my bathroom closet and got rid of at least 40 old creams and half-empty hair sprays and an old, dusty make-up bag I haven’t used in years. But I did it sluggishly and I waited until about 8:00 o’clock, in contrast to my usual “done by 9:00 a.m.” and dangerously close to skipping a day.
At first I got worried, wondering if I was losing steam. But then I looked back on my day. I worked out (even after getting up late after a crazy, fun Saturday night). I did massive clean up in my garden. I wrote like mad. I cooked for my kids.
No. I was not slacking.
The real impact of the Big Spring Clean came when I thought about how I’d motivated myself to clean the garden. It is kind of a wreck after a rough winter and a fall clean-up that was cut short due to early snow (and some honest-to-goodness slacking, if I’m truthful). Rather than do like I’ve done in the past and tell myself I had to pull a marathon day in which I cleaned and mulched six massive beds, I told myself I’d just do one. Just one and done. It gave me the same light feeling that the Big Spring Clean is giving me. I don’t have to do it all. I just have to do 27 things.
As with the Big Spring Clean, I wound up going longer. I did two and a half beds. But I still had plenty of energy left and I didn’t wreck my back. So… moderation. Who knew? One more wonderful lesson of The Big Spring Clean.
Since then I have done some more work on the guest room (so close!) and the garage with the help of my ex-husband. I am so grateful for all the great things flowing out of this project. I’m starting to hope it never ends! (But it will: April 15th. Almost halfway there. As of today I’ve done upwards of 324 items).
