I am a perfectionist with the tendencies to procrastinate
OR
I procrastinate because I am a perfectionist
I may never really know ~ but I can tell you that my mind has found itself pondering this concept as I face the daunting task of overcoming both traits to tackle this move.
I have moved plenty in my lifetime. I have packed and unpacked, labeled, moved, wrapped, and sorted my belongings close to 15 times. Minimal by many standards- but enough that I should know what's ahead of me and what is involved. And yet I feel paralyzed.
Our most recent move was over 11 years ago. We had nearly five full months to prepare for that move, as we purchased our home prior to ground breaking on it's site. And, let me tell you, I was prepared and organized! In fact, I had a great system to manage our boxes and the overall move. Many mocked my system, made fun of the over-notated, extremely detailed, methodical way I had every box inventoried, labeled, and controlled. I knew I was the butt of many jokes that week- but man was it worth it. My husband still will tell you how easy unpacking was- how smooth the transition. AND- the day of the move, we had more friends and family to help than we could ever repay, we had the old house emptied and into the right location in the new house, furniture placed, beds built and lunch done in less than 4 hours. We were pleased and were able to have the afternoon to recover. We also had the privilege of moving from a smaller home to a larger home, within the same city.
None of these luxuries are available to me during this move... I don't have months to prepare, I am not moving to a larger home, and I won't be able to be as detailed, organized, and methodical during this move. We have no idea what our home will be, whether we will need to have a storage unit, if there will be room enough for an office or how big the kitchen will be. And, once we get there, it will only be Michael and I to unload, place and settle our home. I know that I MUST make baby steps forward, but have more questions than answers, so don't know where to begin. And, above all, I have a 3 year old that deserves my time, the best of my time- not what's leftover after I've spent most of the day packing!!
And for this perfectionist...it's the perfect reason to fall back into my procrastinating ways. Or at least to ponder whether I am a perfectionist that hides behind procrastination or am just plagued by two separate traits that seems to paralyze me in my tracks.
As you see, this is a huge step of faith as I must begin the sorting, packing, and purging, unsure of where we are going or what we will do with the things we take. By faith, I have to believe that God will provide the perfect size home for our needs... but, in the meantime- I would covet your prayers as I seem to be able to argue myself out of making any forward progress!
I have moved plenty in my lifetime. I have packed and unpacked, labeled, moved, wrapped, and sorted my belongings close to 15 times. Minimal by many standards- but enough that I should know what's ahead of me and what is involved. And yet I feel paralyzed.
Our most recent move was over 11 years ago. We had nearly five full months to prepare for that move, as we purchased our home prior to ground breaking on it's site. And, let me tell you, I was prepared and organized! In fact, I had a great system to manage our boxes and the overall move. Many mocked my system, made fun of the over-notated, extremely detailed, methodical way I had every box inventoried, labeled, and controlled. I knew I was the butt of many jokes that week- but man was it worth it. My husband still will tell you how easy unpacking was- how smooth the transition. AND- the day of the move, we had more friends and family to help than we could ever repay, we had the old house emptied and into the right location in the new house, furniture placed, beds built and lunch done in less than 4 hours. We were pleased and were able to have the afternoon to recover. We also had the privilege of moving from a smaller home to a larger home, within the same city.
None of these luxuries are available to me during this move... I don't have months to prepare, I am not moving to a larger home, and I won't be able to be as detailed, organized, and methodical during this move. We have no idea what our home will be, whether we will need to have a storage unit, if there will be room enough for an office or how big the kitchen will be. And, once we get there, it will only be Michael and I to unload, place and settle our home. I know that I MUST make baby steps forward, but have more questions than answers, so don't know where to begin. And, above all, I have a 3 year old that deserves my time, the best of my time- not what's leftover after I've spent most of the day packing!!
And for this perfectionist...it's the perfect reason to fall back into my procrastinating ways. Or at least to ponder whether I am a perfectionist that hides behind procrastination or am just plagued by two separate traits that seems to paralyze me in my tracks.
As you see, this is a huge step of faith as I must begin the sorting, packing, and purging, unsure of where we are going or what we will do with the things we take. By faith, I have to believe that God will provide the perfect size home for our needs... but, in the meantime- I would covet your prayers as I seem to be able to argue myself out of making any forward progress!
I will be praying and I am sure you will find a way to be organized and methodical in spite of the uncertainty. Label what definitely needs to be in the house and then what you can live without for the time being. I found that to be helpful when I had to store some things and decide what I definitely needed right now. I didn't want to go digging through a box of dishes to find just a few things I needed and have to repack that box to store for later. Just a thought.
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