A messy office is a happy office
My home office is my sanctuary. I spend hours in there, almost everyday.
My wife comes in every week, elbows me out of my chair and makes me move everything that is moveable into the hallway.
Then I am forced to dust my desk, all the ledges and all my pictures on the walls. (I think she might be a bully and isn’t that frowned on these days?)
Lastly, she and her prized Dyson vacuum attack the carpets.
Because I contend that the room couldn’t possibly be dirty — all I do is sit and work away — she takes great pride in emptying the vacuum into my wastebasket with a selfserving smirk on her face while I go about putting everything in the hall back in its proper place.
To her, my office is a pig sty. To me, it’s lived in. It would please me if she didn’t come by so often.
Lest you get the impression that I am a person who thrives on chaos and clutter, you are very wrong, my friend.
If that were true, I would be what is known in clinical circles as a “disposophobic.” — a hoarder, someone who can’t throw anything out. Admittedly, I don’t throw everything away because, shortly after I do, I find I had a use for it. You have to be careful what you throw away, just as you have to be careful what you keep.
Disposophobics are, simply put, pack rats. I am, simply put, a teeny bit messy. (As an aside: we had a pack rat in our garage one time. He was a cute little thing. Dudly, the exterminator, wanted to catch him on some sticky-surfaced paper but I said no. That’s a terrible way to die. I might be a bit un-tidy but I am not a killer.)
Disposophobics suffer from chronic disorganization. They are islands surrounded by a sea of declutterers. Decluttering is a big fad right now. The trend today is toward very little on show. They wouldn’t do well in my office. Most of us have too much stuff and too little time to deal with it. We get hundreds of pieces of mail we don’t want, family heirlooms no one will inherit and clothes we have trouble saying goodbye to. But these things don’t make us disposophobics.
Disposophobia is actually a mental disorder that can lead to depression. Surely to God, we haven’t sunk that far, you and me.
But, if you do have trouble as described herein, there is help out there. A mini-course on personal organization is available online at discoverorganization.com where you will learn how to remove clutter, how to decide what to throw away and create a less hectic atmosphere in your home. Are you ready? Or do you have a home office also?
Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster living in Ok Falls. fredtrainor@shaw.ca