The Line Between Chaos and Order
- Jon Parker
- May 23, 2018
- 3 min read
A simple line. On one side you have cut grass, on the other, overgrown grass. It doesn't seem like much, does it? After all, how could a silly line like this represent anything of importance?
Let me explain.
I have always been quite lazy. Granted, that has changed quite a bit since I began taking control over myself and my life, but I still catch myself slipping back into "zero" mode a little too often. It's a constant inner battle and at times I'm so caught up in my own head that I don't notice when I start to let things slip.
For instance, my lawn. While mowing my lawn yesterday evening I knelt down in the grass and took the photo that you see above. Then it felt profound and still does.
I took that photo because while mowing I realized that I was feeling pretty good. That is significant because before I'd gone outside to mow I was in emotional distress. The physical stress of my job and the constant noise both there and at my house was causing more pressure than normal and I felt like if I didn't get away from it for a bit then I'd snap. So I went outside.
And I mowed.
And I began to understand that it wasn't the noise or my job that was the real, underlying problem.
It was me.
It was the fact that I'd let too many things slip by. One of those things just so happened to be my lawn. You can see in the photo that the grass is too long. Maybe it's just me but after living for a decade in Arizona, where I had no grass, keeping this grass looking good is important to me.
But two weekends ago I decided I'd let it go for another week to find out if mowing would be a weekly or bi-weekly task. Then, this last weekend, I let it go again. And every day when I pulled into the driveway after work I looked at my front yard and hated it.
Call it what you will but that shit weighed on me. It was a task that required my attention, but I left it and for some reason when I do that stress and anxiety tend to build up slowly within me. Leaving tasks undone that are important (either objectively or subjectively) creates chaos.
However, it's an easy thing to put forth the required effort to bring order to that chaos.
By the time I was done mowing I was drenched in sweat and I felt great.
This example may not apply to each of you reading, but the astounding effect that completing one task had on my own personal chaos is so great that I urge each of you to look into your own life and see if you have been letting anything slip by, consciously or otherwise.
In this chaotic world a little bit of order goes a long way.
If you've got tasks that need to be completed, complete them. Left undone they're a bulwark against mental clarity and efficient action.
All the best,
Jon.
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