No one likes an organized person (especially when that person also has OCD and will continue bugging people via Facebook email about RSVPing to a 20-year high school reunion that is 3 weeks away). One has reached critical-mass annoyingness when one has OCD, is organized and, on top of it all, does not engage in procrastination.
I am a naturally organized person and always have been. Even as a child, I kept my room neat and everything had its place. Some people are born that way and some people aren't. There are many times I wish I could be a more go-with-the-flow type of person. (My meds have certainly mellowed me out in the last 7 years, but the fundamentals of my personality are still there.)
Being organized brings me a sense of calm and creates the illusion that I have control over my life.
In college I found that the more classes I took, the more organized, efficient and successful I was. My best semesters were those in which I took 6 classes and worked part-time. I didn't have time to waste so I didn't waste any.
Once I became a mom, I also realized that when I put things off, inevitably something came up at the last minute (usually a sick child or a horrible night of sleep), and I was left scrambling to get something accomplished. So I just do things well in advance. To maintain that semblance of control.
I often get the comment, "Oh, but you're so organized," and I'm not sure how to respond to this. I feel sorta compelled to apologize or downplay my organizing. And while it is very true that I can juggle planning a reunion, writing for a local magazine, being president of a moms group, and being on the HOA board, I also don't take a shower every single day and many times forget to brush my teeth or put on deodorant or both. I wear the same clothes over and over without any idea of how many days they have been on my person.
I have my watch set to beep during the week when I am supposed to pick N up from school....because I would forget. I actually need it to have a "snooze" function so that it could remind me repeatedly until I am actually in carpool line. (For the past 6 weeks, she has taken a gymnastics club on Tuesday afternoons, and every week I was driving like a bat out of hell because I forgot about picking her up since my watch alarm didn't sound beforehand.)
So being organized and involved and on-top-of-things does have its downsides, namely in terms of hygiene in my case. And in my ability to drive other people bat-shit nuts with all of my organizing.
I am a naturally organized person and always have been. Even as a child, I kept my room neat and everything had its place. Some people are born that way and some people aren't. There are many times I wish I could be a more go-with-the-flow type of person. (My meds have certainly mellowed me out in the last 7 years, but the fundamentals of my personality are still there.)
Being organized brings me a sense of calm and creates the illusion that I have control over my life.
In college I found that the more classes I took, the more organized, efficient and successful I was. My best semesters were those in which I took 6 classes and worked part-time. I didn't have time to waste so I didn't waste any.
Once I became a mom, I also realized that when I put things off, inevitably something came up at the last minute (usually a sick child or a horrible night of sleep), and I was left scrambling to get something accomplished. So I just do things well in advance. To maintain that semblance of control.
I often get the comment, "Oh, but you're so organized," and I'm not sure how to respond to this. I feel sorta compelled to apologize or downplay my organizing. And while it is very true that I can juggle planning a reunion, writing for a local magazine, being president of a moms group, and being on the HOA board, I also don't take a shower every single day and many times forget to brush my teeth or put on deodorant or both. I wear the same clothes over and over without any idea of how many days they have been on my person.
I have my watch set to beep during the week when I am supposed to pick N up from school....because I would forget. I actually need it to have a "snooze" function so that it could remind me repeatedly until I am actually in carpool line. (For the past 6 weeks, she has taken a gymnastics club on Tuesday afternoons, and every week I was driving like a bat out of hell because I forgot about picking her up since my watch alarm didn't sound beforehand.)
So being organized and involved and on-top-of-things does have its downsides, namely in terms of hygiene in my case. And in my ability to drive other people bat-shit nuts with all of my organizing.
1 comment:
I, somehow, have the capacity for both. I am organized in many, many ways but there are certain things (uh, mostly housecleaning) that I am very laid back about... and there have been times when I haven't gotten a hair cut in over a year because I just didn't think of it. We could use someone like you on our PTO - during some of those meetings/functions I wish I could dial - up the type A in my personality.
Post a Comment