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Beating An Orderly Retreat
After all the presents are unwrapped and the parties are mostly over for the season, it’s time to start thinking about getting your house back in order! It’s still Christmastime, but a lot of people start packing it up right about now.
Order
Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
~Benjamin Franklin
A lot of people get overwhelmed trying to cram too much into each and every day. Ben knew this was a losing game and sought to head it off by apportioning things rationally.
One of the best strategies for keeping an orderly life is to pick three big to-dos for each day. Accomplish those tasks and you’ll feel like you’ve really gotten something done. If those tasks don’t take the entire day, you can add more miscellaneous activities as needed.
Packing It In
Since Christmas isn’t technically over until Epiphany, you can take your time putting the decorations away. Start with some of the bigger items like the Christmas tree. Since there are several steps in putting away the tree, you can break it down into simple steps that you can execute at your leisure.
Take the decorations off and store them using tips from the video above. Specialty storage containers for holding balls are available. You can also use more standard sized plastic totes and insert cardboard strips to create compartments where odd-shaped ornaments can be protected from bumping into others.
Next, unwind the lights from the tree and roll them up on a handy spool or h-reel for easy storage and even easier retrieval next year. A bit of patience now will save you wrestling with a nasty tangle next time around.
If you’re like me, an artificial tree with the lights already attached is a real time-saver. You can skip the previous step and simply fold up the tree into its box. When you’re done with all that, you’ve got a massive chunk of your holiday decor squared away. There’s a large space in your house that has now been recovered and you can start working on breaking out the rest of the put-away into straightforward, manageable steps.
Doing What Works For You
Some of Mr. Bean’s behavior seems pretty disruptive, but he’s doing what works for him. His pantomime antics are obviously for our enjoyment but if you take him at face value, Mr. Bean is living life on his own terms.
You don’t need to be quite as childishly self-absorbed as Mr. Bean to live life on your own terms. Introducing order to your life with enlightened self-interest is a great way to recover from the stress of everyday life and the holiday hubbub.
Remember not to do to others what is odious to yourself. Do what you need to do, but keep in mind the effect it might have on others. Look what happened when Mr. Bean went to test his Christmas lights! He wasn’t considering the effects of his actions on others.
Take life in simple, orderly steps. Keep your to-do list short and achievable. Keep others in mind when doing what you need to do. These are simple keys to a happy life as we make our way through the Virtues of Christmas.