Thursday, July 22, 2010

Things I Wish I Could Make Myself Want To Do

There are a number of things I REALLY would sorta like to care enough about to do... but I don't. No matter HOW hard I ponder them in a 'that would be sorta nice' kind of way. So here is a comprehensive list of things I WANT to care about, but don't.


A Garden.

Specifically, I'd like a Dr. Suess garden... things with long stems and big puffs on top-- strangely branching mini-trees, weirdly curving flowery things like the one growing at Old Kitty's house. It would be REALLY cool. But I don't want it badly enough EVEN to research what kind of darned plants those are. Certainly not enough to like... pull weeds and stuff.


Moderate Maintenance of my Appearances

By that I mean I really wish I cared more about my hair/make-up. I wish I could be bothered to do more than keep clean and comb my hair, but on most days... like unless I'm going to a party or something... I just can't make myself take the time.



A Clean Basement

It would make my husband so much happier. And it is where I type (and blog) and spend a HUGE portion of my time. I WANT to want to clean it, but I don't want to.


Get Rid of the Crap

This is related to the clean basement thing, but has to do with the VAST amount of stuff we've accumulated, that I just CAN'T make myself want to go through (let alone making myself ACTUALLY go through it)--you see, marital misery aside, most stuff comes in handy eventually. The hubby would just 'buy it when we need it' but I am far too cheap to think that is okay when we bought it once already.



Organize the Laundry Room

I tore it apart looking for that damn marriage certificate that I eventually had to just reorder because Chapman Kelly, Blue Cross and the University of Michigan ARE EVIL. Now there are boxes everywhere that used to be in storage. I know I should put them back... Building up the momentum to do it though, is just not happening... I just don't want to do it.


Yoga

This would solve a couple of health obstacles at once, I think... increase flexibility, which I think would help my back, because I think tight thigh and butt muscles are pulling my back off kilter... increase strength (and muscle burns fat, but looks better besides) but I can't seem to force myself to be interested. It makes me tearful just to think about it. If I am going to take the time to exercise, I WANT TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! I wish yoga sounded appealing, but it just doesn't, on so many levels.


Get Organized

SO MANY areas of my life could benefit... the writing, the day job, the blogging... The EDITING—talk about a process that could benefit from organization!  But I don't WANT TO organize!

25 comments:

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I think you look at the enormous scale of cleaning the basement and back off. Just decide to clean up one square foot of one corner of it. Throw away one garbage bag of items ... or just three items. Then, go back up the stairs.

If you do that every other day or every third day, in a month you would see a real change. The neater it starts to look, the more motivated you'll be to straighten it up more.

Ah, about the Yoga ... I'm afraid that it would take someone with an electric cattle prod to get me in those positions!

It's hard enough to motivate myself to do my push-up's and sit-ups. (Hey, my cat snickers at me -- it's humiliating.) Roland

Love from Kaz said...

Yeah, I'm all on board with the baby-steps style of doing things. My garden is a constant aggravation but every now and then I set myself the task of spending just 15 minutes a day in it... and a week later it actually starts to look like someone cares about it.
I'm not big on housework, gardening, and, even though I hate clutter, I am terrible at sorting through my stuff. I still have boxes with stuff in them in my dining room and I moved in May... 2009. There's just too many other more interesting things to do... like blog, or write letters, for instance.

Old Kitty said...

Awww you're a natural hoarder like me - cancer watery signs generally are - that bit of the horoscope is so so so so true!! I love my stuff and can't throw any out - nope!!! Don't wanna!!!
Don't make me!! :-)

I think that apart from the necessary editing and revision hell that you fab writers must do (sorry!! ) all else is optional!! In my humble opinion anyway and by jingo I'm sticking to that (and totally ignoring the accumulating housework duties!!).

Oh I went to a yoga for beginners ONCE and lasted 45 minutes out of a 2 hour session. I snuck out the minute the yoga teacher was busy being twisted inside out legs entwinned and neck at 45 degree angle!

Take care
x

Hart Johnson said...

Roland-my cat walks on me and the dog tries to lick my ears, so I hear you on animal obstacles! And I guess I KNOW the baby-steps ought to work... it is just motivating myself to WANT TO DO THEM... (plus, with a teen and a tween, there is the counterflow to any cleaning)

Kaz--you're a NEW Kaz, eh? Cause my other friend Kas has an 's' (and no house of her own--WELCOME! My trouble with finding 15 minutes to garden, is that I need that 15 minutes to TYPE or some such thing... it is the competing demands, that this list never makes it high enough on my priority list...

Reberto-Short stories, eh? Interesting, and this is an appropriate SPOT, though I get the funny feeling there was no reading of the BLOG involved... Are you spammin'? but like... targeted?

Natasha said...

Tami- if we needed any further confirmation, we are twins.
I was making a list of things I wish I could want to do and guess what was on my list - tidy and/ or organise the house, sort through the junk to weed out the real junk, make the effort to dab on a bit of eyeliner or lip gloss a couple of times a week, get order into my writing time!

Hart Johnson said...

OK-you snuck in on me! Yes, my hatred of waste, cheapskate qualities, and the Cancer hoarding all conspire... Plus... pretty much anything I've ever gotten rid of, I've found a use for later and regretted. Hubby thinks if you don't use it for a year, you don't need it. But he also thinks we're made of money... tain't so!

I Actually LOVE a good aerobics class that stretches AFTER... it is the lack of bouncing or something that makes yoga look... boring.

Hart Johnson said...

Ha! Natasha! Twins indeed! (though I've seen you make some gardening effort--though I might, too, if I just had a little patio area in a high rise, which is what you have, yes? A couple pots? I might make myself want to, if it was a 3 minutes a day task.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I do a good job with starting OUT with the gardening, then I don't want to do maintenance! I'm with you on these. I've tried doing yoga on the wii, but then gave up. As far as the organizing, we have a garage that needs some work. I DID do the desk over and just decided to organize it in 15 minutes a day for as many days as it took. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought...

Hart Johnson said...

Elizabeth, I have had a lot of years where I do that... try at first, then peter out, but this year I was just honest about not being interested enough... I think I will try this 15 minutes at a time for my WORK desk... might help...

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Is that your basement? No wonder you don't want to tackle it! Although if you saw my attic, it might not appear so daunting.

Sarah Ahiers said...

oooh i hear you on the appearance maintenance. since i've started working from home, i pretty much sit in sweats with my hair pulled back. Still, at least i'm comfortable

Hart Johnson said...

Alex--that was a google shot--mine isn't QUITE that bad, but it also isn't quite so orderly (as in stacked).

Sarah-my care about appearances fell off when I worked in a pub (no point putting on make-up, only to get all greasy)--never have been able to pick up the habit again.

Megan Bostic said...

I'm so with you on most of this Hart. Good luck with it. (A Dr. Seuss garden would be so cool) :)

Karen Jones Gowen said...

This looks very much like my list! If only I had more time, more energy, more something!

LTM said...

Your Angel Trumpet pix made me LOL--I inherited a gorgeous garden thanks to the old lady who owned this house before us, and I used to attempt to keep it up. One fine spring day I "weeded" all the angel trumpets out of the flower bed. I discovered my error about a week later when I saw a gorgeous AT blooming in a ditch I jogged past.

I actually stopped jogging. "I recognize those leaves..." GAH!

Needless to say, I gave up gardening... ;p

Hart Johnson said...

Yay for like minds! So glad I'm not alone!

Leigh-my husband periodically does something bone-headed in the garden when i DO try--he 'cut back' a butterfly blush 3 years ago that FINALLY forgave us this year... part of my disincentive to do anything, though in his defense, had I definitively said "don't touch it, the yard and garden website said to leave it" he might have listened--I couldn't be bothered to look it up in his timeframe (which he never actually GIVES ME by the way)

Talli Roland said...

Oh, I hear you! There is SO much I wish I could motivate myself to do but... I just can't. For now I'll just feel guilty about it every once in awhile and let the piles of stuff I should be sorting grow...

Anonymous said...

haha! i completely understand that! there are so many things that i want to want to do. but i don't.

http://justmycrazyboringlife.blogspot.com/

Hart Johnson said...

Talli-I really only feel guilty when my hubby tells me he hates it, but I DO recognize they'd be good for me!

Mily-thanks for stopping in! Welcome! And EXACTLY! I want to want to, but I don't WANT TO!

Ben Schmitt said...

Hey, I heard about your blog from Becoming Layla!
Man, can I relate to you though I am a few states away, not married, and yet to enter an adult phase of my life. All differences aside, I have a laundry list of things I want to want to do. But, I keep on putting them off. I leave for college in a month, so I need to "get all my ducks in a row" before I do so. They're not as easy to organize than origionally concieved. Crap.

Anonymous said...

Holy frijoles Batman. Look at that garage! Order some pizza and beer and have some neighbors come over on a Saturday and just knock it out. Yoga's cool. I like it. And tai chi.

Stephen Tremp

Hart Johnson said...

Ben--WELCOME! I saw you'd followed, but I'm glad to see you! And College is a FABULOUS time, so I wish you a ton of luck! I found college a somewhat easier time to stay organized because I was only responsible to me, rather than having parents, spouse, kids... all those HUGE obstacles that come along--so ENJOY IT!

Stephen, in my defense that is a representative, but not PERSONAL garage... My stuff isn't NEARLY so organized!

lisahgolden said...

This list is not far from my own. I gave up the big garden because of the weeding. Once we hit June, I was over it.

And I keeping thinking I'll start yoga once I'm thin. Which never seems to happen...

JoseG said...

Vinyasa Flow Yoga would let you move. I've had some instructors play some pretty upbeat music and trust me, you sweat a lot. But the rhythm and flow of movement is really nice.

Good luck getting some cleaning/organizing done. Although my writing is purely academic, I find a balance between clutter and a little of the aesthetic raises my mood a little. :-)

Cheeseboy said...

Of all these things, the Dr. Suess garden sounds the most exciting/interesting. I'd start on that one. Forget the yoga.