2010, it's so nice to meet you!

We’re five days into this new decade and I have to say, I rather like it over here. Maybe it’s the blank planner in front of me or the clean calendar I’ve just hung on the wall but there’s always so much promise at the start of a new year. Everything’s clean and fresh, just patiently waiting for our imprint.

Towards the end of December I got hit with a bug. A cleaning bug, that is. Some strong desire to get every single bit of my life in order was stirring and come January 1, I finally let her out in full force. I like to think I’m a pretty organized gal to begin with but right now I am a woman on a mission – declutter, declutter, tidy up, clean, straighten, and also declutter. It’s a bit of an uphill battle, this tiding up my life, but I’m working on it piece by piece in two very big areas of my life -work and home.

See, the thing about my lovely little one bedroom apartment in the city is that a lovely little one bedroom apartment in the city doesn’t exactly lend itself to a lot of storage space. I have no garage, no extra closets, no basement in which to store the things that I don’t exactly want to toss, but don’t exactly need on a day to day basis. So, over the past few days I’ve been on a serious purge mission. I need to donate the clothes I no longer wear or the ones that don’t fit just right or the shoes that tore up my feet the one time I wore them without – and here is the key – feeling guilty. At times this is harder than I like to admit, especially if the item in question is still in really great condition or worse, it has sentimental value.

I am making progress though. My closet looks better than it has in a long while and while I still have a huge “maybe keep” sweater pile to go through I also have several big “to donate” bags sitting near my front door. That’s a good feeling.

The other goal I’m working particularly hard on is focusing on the actual task at hand rather than letting my brain ping pong around to 700 different items on the to-do list. All too often – especially at work – I start one project then get distracted by an email that pops in and then I’m off chasing down some paperwork or heading to a meeting and by the time I finally make it back to my initial project I can’t even remember what I have or haven’t done to it. In an effort to curb this particular form of ADD I’m trying really hard to sit and work on ONE project until it’s finished before moving onto the next “to do.” I realize this all works wonderfully in theory and not so perfectly in real life, but I’m giving it a shot. Because, well, why the heck not?

Last night I made it to the gym for the first time in 2010, which also marked my first trip back there post-Christmas and the eating way too much sugar for my own good week. It felt really good to get the blood flowing again. After my workout, I stopped by the grocery store to buy a filet of salmon which I cooked and ate with a plate of vegetables. By the time I climbed into bed last night I swear I could hear my body whisper You're going to take care of me again! Thank you!

See, I’m pretty darn excited about this new decade. I’ve got a whole slew of things I want to accomplish, places to go, friends to connect with, new people to meet. There’s a whole life out there, just waiting to be well lived, and I’m feeling so very ready to go for it. Let's do this, 2010.

You with me?