Saturday, August 1, 2009

Loving What You Do.

I love creating folk art and teaching folk art but my natural leanings have always included an obsession with organizing stuff. My stuff, store stuff, other people's stuff. I cannot pass a hanger facing the wrong way in a store without flipping it back into it's correct position. I straighten pictures in offices if I can do it without being seen. I line up shoes and straighten papers and fiddle with cushions. I turn cans in the pantry so that they face forward. No OCD diagnosis, I just prefer things in an orderly fashion. I can, and have frequently allowed my home to be a disheveled mess, with dishes in the sink etc. and managed to sleep and relax, no worries, I just always have to bring it back into it's rightful state within a timely manner.

So it is no wonder then that I enjoy, no, I love to be hired to go to other people's homes and help them get organized. What other people put off, or dread doing, or get bogged down by, causes my heart to skip a beat and I cannot wait to get in there in the trenches and "get organized".

Clients will tell you that I sometimes get giddy as I solve the questions of "where should this go?" and "what do I do with this?". When some difficult group of items suddenly finds it's rightful place you may even hear a "yippeee" from me.

Loving what you do and having your client's worries or problems resolved is so gratifying. My father was obsessed with labels and neat little boxes of tools and household items and having everything where it belonged, and somehow the gene was passed on to me, and I am so grateful Dad, because I love doing this.

Everyone has that moment in their lives, or I hope that they do, when something comes so natural to them that other people would find impossible. I can see a garage or a room so crowded with belongings that you cannot see the floor, and in an instant I see the finished area all neat and tidy. Maybe you can cook without a recipe, or hit a baseball farther than anyone else, or run faster, or sell shoes to a cobbler, or paint without a lesson. You are able to do something that other people can't, and it is second nature to you and it comes so easy. You are uplifted, you take that deep breath and think to yourself "good job, well done", and it never really feels like work, because you love what you do.

For the past several weeks I have worked with a wonderful client and spent many days doing what I LOVE to do and I am grateful. I wish the same for you.

1 comment:

Bertie said...

OMG!! I've found my twin!! I, too, crave organization. I have been known to straighten pictures in restaurants and doctor's offices. I refold the towels in Walmart, for goodness sake...and it's not my JOB. I just can't walk by a messy shelf and not fix it. And yes, I do turn the hangers if they face the wrong way! You are so lucky to get paid for doing what you love!

Bertie
Aunt May's Cottage