Spring Forward and Onward

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

-Gustave Flaubert

Looking up at the night sky at the beginning of Spring, seeing stars and distant galaxies, there appears to be order from afar, but certainly chaos up close; the story of my life. It wasn’t that long ago that I realized that I am merely a welcomed guest in this universe, and was given the opportunity, by chance, to be able to exist and enjoy its scenery and provided with a brain to help unravel its mysteries; I suppose it’s up to me to decide what type of guest I am going to be. This is a question I can’t help but ask myself far too often.

Although I am a fan of Winter and how it allows me to express to the world of my introvertedness by showing my absence, and occupying my time with books and binge-watching, and also allowing the cold weather to place a blanket over my responsibilities, Spring’s warmth brings a subtle reminder that there are still accomplishments that need to be achieved and tasks to be sorted.

While allowing my synapses to defrost, I am slowly reminded of the phrase “Spring Cleaning” and of the yearly goals I had made in January and forgot in February, but February never actually counts anyways, and also reminded by my subconscious of the night sky; the question of am I being a pleasant guest in this universe? My cluttered room and disorganized thoughts are starting to suggest otherwise.

The first step, I suppose, in sorting and organizing these thoughts are to write them down along with reasonable, achievable, and specific goals. I’ve found, by trial and error, that “specific” is extremely important when writing a schedule because it creates a defined expectation for myself. For example, I have a current goal of learning Japanese this year, and am starting with the alphabet. If I were to simply write “Learn Japanese” on my schedule, it’s likely that I would glance over a few letters and say, “mission accomplished!” However, if I were to say to my future self and write down, “Complete lessons 7, 8, & 9 of Hiragana and memorize symbols and pronunciation,” then I am more likely to complete the task with not only the check-mark next to the written task, but a sense of fulfillment to go along with it. For the curious minds, Hiragana is one of three components of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji, each containing different sets of symbols that make up their phonetics.

As for the cluttered areas, I’ve found that the mental gymnastics I use to convince myself to put the cleaning off until tomorrow would put any professional Olympian to shame, had my mental maneuvers be converted to a pommel horse routine. So, rather than gaze upon the disarray that made its way to my floor, I’ve found that since it’s extremely easy to be intimidated by the entirety of the clutter, it's more manageable to separate it into quadrants. By breaking it down to a few square feet helps to make the task more achievable and itemize as we go; is it something to be thrown away; is it going in with the rest of the laundry; have I wasted too much time staring at this old Rubik’s Cube that my ex-girlfriend got me and comparing its unsolved state to the chaos that is my life, with every color triggering a certain memory of supposed happiness and an image of a picnic with the two of us and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ – Under the Bridge now starting to play in the back of my mind and remembering how much I hate that song now? Yes. Yes I have. On to the next square foot.

Luckily for me, I’ve found that the universe is a generous and understanding host, and I, on the quest to be a pleasant guest, will continue to look forward and onward this Spring, and future equinoxes, and will write and accomplish any and all tasks in an orderly conduct. There will certainly be more errors and chaos in my life, but like our own near star, whose surface is constant and ever-changing, the recognition and realization that our chaos is “normal,” is our secret step to order.