NEW DAY NEW LESSON

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I tortured a teenager the other day.

Not even my own teenager. And actually I was not even trying to torture her because I like her. I think she is a really good kid who is creative and has a unique style all her own.

She also likes to use her floor as a closet and hang onto things that she never uses anymore. I have a feeling she probably also throws things into the laundry bin instead of putting it away in her closet. (I learned that underhanded teen tactic from my 13 year old daughter.)

All of that is probably the reason her mother asked if I wanted to help her organize her room before her sister comes home for two weeks from the overseas program where she is working. The two girls share a room and frankly there was no place left for the older sister because my teenage torture victim completely took over the whole room.

I love decluttering. I love throwing things out. (Especially other peoples’ things.) Yes, I have a bit of an organizing gene but I really do ask permission first. I don’t like useless things. I also like clear surfaces.

To put it mildly, this poor teen was in Susie hell. She was really good, but I am sure that after five minutes she was praying in her head for me to please go away. I probably would have gotten rid of a lot more stuff, but somewhere in the middle I remembered that this is not my room and this girl is different than I am. She has different needs and different ways of viewing things. Things that hold no meaning for me, make her smile. So I toned my enthusiasm down a bit. (I am not sure she even noticed because at that point I think she was completely zoned out and trying to live through my invasion.)

She is an amazing girl with lots of talents and hobbies. I am hoping she recuperates from the cleaning trauma and comes to realize that by keeping her room tidy she will have a lot more time to do other things and a lot more space to do it in. I personally find myself a lot more productive when things are neat. (And by the way my husband is probably laughing his head off right now because my walk in closet probably looked like her room for the better part of last month, which is why I was probably so unproductive.)

It was a good lesson to me to try and remember that everyone is different and my view or way is not always the only or best one.

What are your views on clutter and tidiness?

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This post was inspired by the prompt of “Here Come The Girls” at The Gallery Week 30 run by Tara at Sticky Fingers. (Should probably be, here came the woman to torture the girl but still…)

Image:
CLEAN UP
© EvelynGiggles | Flickr Creative Commons