Elephant Sandwich: What it's Like to be an Organized Mess

     Do you find yourself taking on more projects than you can handle? Do you collect things that you should have never bought in the first place? Do you attempt to write a blog about taking on too many tasks, realize how many there are, get overwhelmed, and then quit blogging all together for 433 days because of it? If so, you might be an organized mess like me, meaning you and I should be friends. I'd say we should hang out, but I probably won't find the time. If you're still not sure what an organized mess is, here's what it looks like on a day-to-day basis:

     Cleaning:
     I clean my room every Sunday and by Thursday everything is back on the floor, in the same spots and everything! It's almost like the mess knows where it wants to be and who am I to deny it that?

     Weirdly Organized:
     Everything in my room is in a weird place, but I know where it all is. It doesn't look the best, but it's there when I need it. That's why I have a flashlight in my nightstand and another in my dresser, five pairs of scissors scattered throughout my 10' by 10' room, and in case I need it, a nerf gun behind my chair and another velcro-ed to the back of my night stand. Oops, I may have just lost the element of surprise, I was just kidding about the second nerf gun.

     Animal Crossing is a Puzzle Game:

     Oh you thought Animal Crossing was a cute community simulation game about decorating your house, paying off loans, and chatting with animals? Well you are wrong, it is a very difficult puzzle game wherein you upgrade your house for the purpose of filling it with every possible item in the entire game so that every object can still be used for its intended purpose. The game is won, when you have so much stuff in your house that your friends don't want a tour.

     Over-packing:
     If I go on an overnight trip I bring enough clothes for 3 days. If I'm walking to Subway I'll bring a backpack with 3 liters of water, survival tools, throwing knives, and a frisbee. You know, in case the
world ends on my way back.

Apps:

     I have over 300 apps on my phone and to be honest, I need every one! Sure it might be hard to find the right one in a hurry, but some day I'm gonna need one or two... or seven morse code trainer apps and on that day, I'll be glad I kept them.

     Clothing:
     I have two older brothers, if I wanted to I could use the hand-me-downs I've gotten over the years and never buy clothes again. But then I wouldn't have my own style and where's the fun in that? So I buy my own clothes and still take some hand-me-downs, but this is dangerous for a person like me who attaches a memory to every piece of fabric in existence so I end up with mountains of pants and shirts that barely fit me as far as the eyes can see. I would probably say that an abundance of clothes is the root of most of my space issues. Goodwill is a good option. If that doesn't work for you, try making your shirts into a quilt.

     Keys:

     I'm not proud of this, but I'm addicted to keychains. So much so that my keys got so big and heavy that I had to call it quits and start a new keychain. This new set of keys has only acquired about 3 keychains, which is manageable. It doesn't help, however, that I sometimes make my own keychains and have a drawer full of keychain parts in my room..

     Hobbies:
     I have loved hobbies for years. Since I was young and first started drawing, to a couple years ago when I decided to start selling crocheted items on etsy. From learning Japanese to slacklining. From knife throwing to writing blogs that I expect no one to read. If its a waste of time that I lose money doing, I'm probably doing it already.

     Projects:
     As of right now I have dozens of half-written songs  on 3 CD's that I've already named; I'm trying to write a sequel to a novel I wrote in high school, but I keep getting side tracked and writing four completely different novels; I want to start a band, but I'm too busy writing music for three different projects with my brother; and I want to focus on making shorts for my Youtube channel, but I keep losing focus by managing three other accounts and trying to write a sitcom.

     I think my problem is simple, I give myself too many projects and it's so hard to stay motivated that I don't do any of them. It's like when you come home from school and you have so much homework that you take a nap. Well you know what they say, how do you eat an elephant? You don't, eating a whole elephant sounds awful. Unless I could take off little pieces at a time and put them on bread with lettuce and tomato. In a way, finally sitting down and writing this blog is my E.L.T, my big bite of elephant that starts me on a path to finishing the whole thing. This is my elephant sandwich, what's yours?


Do you have an elephant sandwich that needs to be eaten? Do you like sandwiches at all? Are you a vegetarian? Wow, what's that like? Follow me at facebook.com/freewayparade or tweet me @freewayparade.