/UNDER CONSTRUCTION/
What IS THE DAILY PRACTICE
The daily practice I chose is decluttering or tidying up rooms in my house. I chose this practice because I needed to pick myself up again after a few weeks of difficult news, so here goes to taking care of myself emotionally by decluttering and tidying the place I am grateful to call home. But also because I am a tiny bit skeptical of how this particular practice can help me improve, so let’s start with the one normal task that I seem to always struggle with!
RITUAL
Describe your ritual around it, if one exists. If you didn’t have a ritual, share reflections on that.
I do not really have a set or fixed ritual for every daily practice. I am usually inclined to change it up to distract myself from feeling like it is a routine. But some of the things I would do would include:
1) Mentally dedicating a time for it - this was important to me to actually get the task done.
2) Deciding which area to declutter/tidy - a clear motive helps me embark on the task sooner
3) Playing some music
4) A before and after photo of the place - this helps me assess my progress and allows to mentally acknowledge my achievement. However, I will only be showing some photos, not all, in this blog.
5) Sometimes lighting up a candle
6) Just starting somewhere - sometimes just starting without overthinking the initial start helps carry me through the task
Documentation of the daily Practice
Day 1 -
They say it’s difficult to start something, and this practice was no exception. It seemed too difficult at first, that I ended up not starting Day 1 the day before as planned. I plan on doing a full hour of the practice at another day, and/or a 6th one even after the deadline of this blog. For today, I decided to fold up some clean laundry I’ve had piled up on my sofa for a VERY long time. To get myself at ease, I played some music, and it was certainly helpful to set me in the mood. My satisfaction and peace of mind I felt after finishing my task and looking at my empty sofa was something I’ve been longing for for a long time, especially after a difficult 2 weeks. I hope to be able to take this practice as a form of therapy later on. I am thinking of also maybe lighting up some of my favorite scented candles as a pre-ritual for next times. Let’s see where this leads me to.
Day 2 (2 hours = 4 days worth) -
I decided to remove all the clothes that were lying around in the bedroom and closet. Believe me, if I said there were 2 to 3 travel luggage bags that had exploded in here, it would be an understatement. But within 2 hours’ time, I was able to declutter all of it. My 2 hours’ time were not continuous however due to some impending chores that popped up in between, so I had to break my hours into several timed periods. I hoped to be done with all the clothes, and didn’t think I could pull it off in 2 hours, but I was successful in doing so. I guess I underestimated how much I could do in 2 hours. I also was supposed to be doing this in 4 days rather than all in one day, but fell sick for a few days. I also found it difficult if I kept postponing it till the end of the day, which made me realize that to get myself on track, I either had to do it as soon as I’d woken up or specifically dedicate a time slot for it during the day (which I previously didn’t). But hey, I am still glad I got to finish the dedicated time for it. I plan on continuing the daily practice a little longer than the deadline just to accommodate myself into making it a habit. The music I listened to this time felt somewhat off at times, but also somewhat on point during other times. I feel accomplished genuinely and feel greatly happy sitting in a bedroom that’s MUCH MUCH tidier.
Day 3 -
My dishes for some reason had been piling up, even though I am usually strict with how regular I do them. This time, I decided to get rid of the remaining ones, even though I had already washed the first (and usually the only) round of the day. Since it is fall season, I lit up my pumpkin spice scented candle that I adore to see if it would make a difference, and got started on it. I was surprised to find out that I was done within the 30 mins allocated. I usually lose track or sense of time when I am washing the dishes, but it was great to see I was able to finish it all within the set time. The scented candle helped me feel pleasant the entire time, however the choice of music wasn’t right in my opinion. I wonder if had chosen different music, would I have finished my task quicker? I want to learn to choose better suited music to the type of task I’m doing. There’s so much work that goes behind cleaning or tidying up a mess, to finally seeing a beautiful organized home that feels comfortable and warm.
Days 4, 5, and 6 will be coming up soon.
Learnings and Surprises
I learnt that mentally dedicating a time for a task is of crucial importance to get it done. I also learnt that we often underestimate the things we can do in 30 mins, and how each 30 mins could compound to a bigger result. Small steps take you way way further than planning a big step and perhaps failing by dreading the complexity of it.
I learnt that I can actually make a habit of it. I find it difficult to be consistent with what I do, but somehow documenting my process allows me to be more connected with what I am thinking. So I perhaps will be documenting whenever I want to build a habit.
Will update more on learnings and surprises within the coming days.
impact on my potential topic
I thought about how much effort goes into tidying and decluttering up a place, and how two photographs presented after one another could be evidence of that. As an interior designer (who ironically always has a messy home), I am interested to explore more about how time progresses through an interior scene, with cluttering and decluttering being a constant process. I feel like it is an idea worth exploring, however it still feels like a rather 'floating' one.
Speaking of which, here is a floating exploratory idea I would like to embark on. I was interested by what Sarah had previously shared about projecting a video over a photograph as a temporal experience, and I wonder if I can do something similar. So my idea is - projecting a video showing the interiors of a place being cluttered/decluttered, or constructed/furnished over time, etc. over a fixated 'picture-perfect' photo of a place (or better yet the physical place if possible - like a building or furniture) as a temporal experience.
What to do next to refine my topic
I think I would start with a mind map or systems map of sorts to expand my area of interest or at least search for other areas of interest I am unaware of. Maybe start searching through keywords. I would also be inclined to create a mind map that links the floating idea mentioned earlier with my 3 topics of interest. So far, it links interior design and photography with projection mapping, but maybe I need to consider how to include a physical interface aspect to it, if any.
