Tips on Tuesday - Set An Alarm

This tip comes courtesy a lady from my Weight Watcher class.  Her use of this tip is to remind herself to drink a glass of water or get up and walk for 10 minutes - all relative to weight loss.  I on the other hand, thought this would be a useful tip to stay on task.  The tip is to set an alarm.  

I know myself, all my personality quirks and my obsessive traits.  A very real part of that is that I am easily distracted.  At times, I have a hard time staying on task.  Especially if I have something I know I HAVE to do and I really don't want to do it.  I can find any other thing to do, even a project that is worse than the one I'm procrastinating.  I'm not lazy - it's just that sometimes I can't "face" the project.

I have benefited from watching the Hoarder show.  The clinical counseling and the "why" behind the OCD activity has helped me understand myself.  Some of the events that trigger this behavior could be the loss of a loved one, empty nesting, changes in your home life, holidays, stress of illness and "joy" of weddings.  Well, these events happen to all of us at times in our life.  It just so happens, that ALL of these events actually have effected my life over the past 2 months.  Did I say TRIGGER.

I am going to share with you a very real, shall I say raw part of my life.  I'm sure many bloggers wouldn't post this, however, I think it might help someone else.  

First, I am a firm believer of choice.  You can choose - choose your emotions - choose your actions and reactions - it all comes down to making a choice.  It really is that simple.  I'm not, at all knocking the aid of medicine.  That is a choice as well.  

So, here is my laundry room (shameful), I actually had to straighten it before I took the picture.  This is the reality OCD and depression.

Here is one of many piles of books and papers I want to look at one day.

The part of these pictures that you do NOT see, is that lying in that laundry is the last socks or pj's of Justine's that I might ever wash.  My mom's scarf and a few other things from her house.  In that pile of books are unfinished projects and ideas I wanted to do with my girls when they were little...all of those emotions - for me - are in these pictures.  

Then it came to me, you are being silly!  I should be happy not to have to do so much laundry anymore.  I can still do projects with my girls - we can have a "girl's craft night."  My mom, is no longer in a wheel chair and is in a better place.  SNAP out of it.  SET an alarm and get busy!  So, I did.  

I allowed myself time to do what I wanted, after I had set an alarm for 1 hour of doing what I didn't want to do.  So far, it is working.  Looking at a huge project is overwhelming, but to break it down into smaller pieces is so much easier.  Give it a try. I was so surprised how much I could get done in an hour if I stayed focused.  

Time to get off the computer - my alarm just went off.  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.