Organised chaos trips me up #blind #home

I am following #40acts this lent as a way of thinking about what God is calling me to do in these 40 days leading up to Easter.  Today the challenge is entitled "no scrubs" and in the first sentence I was hit with the need to blog about something which has changed since I lost my sight.

Some of us are clean freaks. Others prefer to live in organised chaos.

I have always sat very happily in the organised chaos camp.
I have always worked on many projects at once so had piles and files and lots of stuff on the go.  My desk has always been hard for anyone else to decipher and I remember the panic I felt at one company when they suggested we should all have clear desks every evening so we could hot desk if needed.  I couldn't even start to understand how that would work for me - it would take so much time to tidy and then untidy the next day.

And it's not just my work and desk; I can't understand the minimalist movement and couldn't bear to live in a house which didn't have memories everywhere through ornaments and photos and things Rachel has made over the years.  (Unfortunately Mike would prefer minimal but he's learned to cope especially since Rachel is like me.)

The trouble I'm now finding though is that organised chaos does not work when you can't see very well.  I used to spend a fair amount of my time looking for the thing I knew was "somewhere", usually because I'd tidied a bit to accommodate Mike's need for some order (or perhaps that was a good excuse).  So now I spend a fair amount of time looking for things and then realising that I can't actually see to read papers or see where anything is - I can't believe how long it's taking me to realise I can't see, it's like I have to be reminded all the time.

I hate to admit it, but I think I'm going to have to embrace a move towards minimalism.
Or at least create a more organised home.
I need to have places for things.
And then put them there!

But where to start?
It's so hard to figure out what I have and where it could go.
But Mike is so thrilled by my mere mention of tidying and organising that he's willing to help.
I just dread to start the process, even though I know it will help me in the long run.

You can see my post reflecting on the lent challenge at LLM Calling.