We’re staying in the kitchen this week, shifting focus from the sink and dishes to our counters. We talked a couple weeks ago about the “Alice’s Restaurant” principle – how when there’s a mess somewhere, it just seems easier to add to the existing mess, rather than clean up the new mess and the old mess. And so the piles grow…
So today we’re going to take a fresh look at old stuff. I don’t know about you, but if something hangs out in a space for a while I tend to forget it’s there. My eyes roll right past it without registering. Until something jars me out of my blurry vision:
Like not noticing the pile of shoes by the front door until a guest walks into the house, or not noticing the amount of things on my counters until I try to wipe the counters down.
Take a moment and think about this scene with me:
Imagine someone handing you something to hold. You take it in one hand. Then they give you something more. You put it in your other hand. As they keep handing you items, your hands and arms get fuller and you’re jostling to hold it all together without letting something fall. It’s constantly moving and a little chaotic.
Now imagine someone taking all those items out of your hands.
Imagine the relief. The exhale.
That’s what we’re going to work to give ourselves with this week’s task.
An exhale.
Each day we’re going to wipe down our counters. You don’t need to move every single thing on them, but let the daily wipe down help you notice any items you stopped registering when you looked around the space.
Maybe not everything on your counter has to stay there.
Maybe it can find a home elsewhere, or is just not even needed.
We’re not dumping everything on the floor, and creating a huge project. (sometimes I have to repeat this thought like a mantra as I clean!)
Just each day, as you wipe down your counters, notice what you’re annoyed by having to move out of the way.
This Week’s Steps
101: Do a daily counter wipe-down.
After meals or at the end of the day, wipe down however much of your counters you can reach without doing stuff-shifting gymnastics. Start with the counters right next to your sink, and add more each day if doing all your counters day one is a little overwhelming. Try blasting “Closing Time” and dance your way through a closing time routine for your kitchen.
201: Declutter one item a day from your counters.
Maybe there’s a gadget that seemed like a real time saver, but you lost interest after a while. Maybe a piece of mail that’s easy to deal with (like “2 minutes or less” easy to deal with), or a décor item your eyes pass over whenever you look at this space that can find a new space in your home to be appreciated elsewhere, or is just ready to leave your house. Each small subtraction makes tomorrow’s wipe-down easier.
Extra Credit (Reflection):
When we add things slowly, we don’t always notice they’re there. Like the proverbial frog in a pot, we simmer our spaces and our lives, juggling all the things and holding our breath in a frantic dance to try to manage it all.
We can reverse the process too. Slowly let go of an item at a time, letting the feeling come back into our limbs and breathing a little exhale.
Uncovering Real 