As I continue my staycation, I am really living into the phrase: “outer order creates inner calm.” I first head this from author Gretchen Rubin on her podcast. And as someone who doesn’t make her bed and is comfortable with open drawers and piles of clothing on the bedroom chair, I scoffed. Really? Maybe that works for you Gretchen, but not me.
Till recently. I am finding as I make this major life change of moving out of one role and pursuing a life-long dream, that having order feels like a jumping-off point for what’s next. It is almost like, if I can put my books in order on my book shelves, I can change my life. Sounds crazy, I know.
This year, I have spent major amounts of time setting up my home office. Cleaning, sorting, organizing, the kind of tasks one does when moving into a new space. But what I noticed was the more order I created in my office space the more excited I felt about the future. The only time I have had a similar feeling was when I created the nursery for my new baby. This time, like that time, is about the new and having things ready and in order feel like part of that work.
Maybe Gretchen was right. Outer order not only creates inner calm, it creates possibilities.