Decluttering – Page 3 – Physician In Numbers

Victory! Or, On Completing A Huge Challenge

After writing about clearing my bookshelf for nearly a year and a half, last week I emptied it! The thrill is starting to fade, as I deal with the downstream effects, but let me tell you, I mentioned it once an hour the day I accomplished it.

To some of you, this may not seem like a huge accomplishment. I myself thought I could get it done in just 4 months–how deluded I was! I had no idea it would take me another year beyond that to accomplish my goals.

In many ways, achieving this goal was like achieving any other intimidating goal, like paying off a mortgage or student loans. And in other ways, it is very different.

One Hard Thing Each Day

I have been very anxious about the situation with COVID-19, and also Mr. PiN has some (badly timed) health issues, which have me worried too.

Last Wednesday, I read some advice: when feeling overwhelmed and uprooted, pick just one thing to do. This way you have a goal each day, and a good chance at accomplishing it.

Future Me, COVID-19 Follow Up

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.

My last update was in January of this year, with a few wins, and a bunch of misses. I set new goals, many of which are not going to be possible to hit given the new recommendations around social distancing (#flattenthecurve).

I had planned to follow up at the end of May, but I would like to review my progress so far, and offer some course correction to my goals for the next few months.

My Goals Versus COVID-19

The weather is wintry, but the lengthening days tell my hind-brain that Spring is coming. And in my home, Spring means Spring Cleaning. Tidying. Emptying the kitchen cabinets and all the closets of old, unusable items.

On the other hand, this year we have the novel coronavirus, the cause of COVID-19, making its way across the globe. There are currently only a few known cases in the USA, but very likely there will be many more soon.

It has been 11 years since the swine flu outbreak, but I do recall hospital policy: you were not to come to work if febrile. If you had proven swine flu, you were to stay home for quite some time, until you were unlikely to spread your infection to patients and other staff.

My husband is very concerned about the possibility of having to self-quarantine. In addition to the possibility that we might get stuck in our home for a while, he also has to worry about his 2 elderly parents, who live just a few miles away. He worries about possible food shortages and how they will get supplies if this virus hits our city hard.

Future Me, January 2020 Follow Up

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018, when I cut back my hours from full time to 90%. At the time I was dealing with overwork and atrophy of my personal life; I worried that I would waste the extra time I was buying myself with my pay cut.

I started with 10 Steps to Future Me. In mid-February 2019, I reviewed my goals from October, and came up with some new ones. In May of 2019 my father’s illness derailed my regular life, and I was pretty forgiving about missing most of my goals in the mid-June update. The work load over the summer was hefty, and again my September 2019 update had many missed marks.

I had planned to follow up at the end of the year, so it’s time to revisit September’s goals and see how I stand with them.

Future Me, September Follow Up

At the end of October 2018, I wrote about 10 Steps to Future Me. I was a bit worried that I would be cutting back on work but frittering away that extra time. Those 10 steps were meant to clarify my personal goals: improving myself, and/or finding new activities to give my life some purpose other than medicine.

A Hierarchy of Activities

Much like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, or Maimonides’ hierarchy of charitable giving, I find there is a hierarchy of activities I do in my time off. I had the opportunity to engage in many of them during my week at home:

Lessons Learned During My Staycation

I recently enjoyed some time off. After my deliberations a few months ago, followed by an exhausting road trip, I decided this time to stay home for a week. Nine days at home without having to go to work represented an experience I haven’t had for years. I found it educational.

Future Me, the June Follow Up

In mid-February 2019, I reviewed my goals from October, and came up with some new ones. I had planned to check in again at the end of May, around Memorial Day.

Memorial Day has come and gone, and with it a lot of time spent with family, as my Dad had a health crisis. He is doing better, and now that I am home, I thought it might be time to review my progress towards my goals.

Book Decluttering Challenge

I had set myself a deadline of removing 180 books from my collection by the end of May. If I manage it, I should be able to get rid of a bookshelf that I no longer want, and make more room in the house.