Stepping into the closet (dealing with irrational fears)

So much of our daily life paralyses us. We are often faced with a to-do list as long as our arm but the thought of what lies beneath and beyond leaves us terrified. Letting lying dogs lie does not work because the nagging feeling of an unaccomplished task never leaves you. Let’s take cupboards, closets and drawers for example.

Many play hide and seek with their closets. Ironically, it’s a one-sided game for it is not the hiding that is the issue, that comes easy! If you care little for arranging your freshly washed laundry then you find yourself chucking everything in the drawer or closet and all you have to do is walk away; it is now hidden. It’s the seeking that gets vexing especially when you have to pull it all out for that one white shirt that you know is whiter than the others.

Then there are those like me. We colour code and arrange our washed laundry and separate the Sunday from the weekday wear. Towels have their place and so does the bed linen; if that’s not enough we have separate sections for single bed sheets and doubles and don’t forget the Christmas sets. No, we are not neurotic we are simply organized!

Yet there comes a moment, when no matter how you choose to live your life; that closet, that cupboard and that drawer must be cleaned out and arranged. I am convinced that clearing and cleaning out closets is a universally disliked activity. It is as if the ‘boodaman’ (an imaginary Indian ghost) is hidden somewhere beneath the bed linen and the curtains. It’s a place you don’t want to go and FOMO does not apply here.

Procrastination does not help.  The reality of daily opening the closet confronts you with that job not done. How easy it would have been if the closet did not have to be opened daily and yet it has to. Why are closets like so many other areas in our life, so hard to deal with?

Today was ‘closet day’ for me and guess what? It was not all that difficult! Fear had paralyzed me into thinking it was insurmountable.  Procrastinating what was just a regular chore had made me sentenced to self-inflicted house arrest.

So much of our lives are like our closets. The task at hand may seem like climbing a mountain but it’s a pleasant walk up a hillock. So here is what I have learnt. Get the bull by its horns. I am sure you won’t find the ‘boodaman’ hidden inside, rather like me, you will have a clean closet. Oh, by the way I also found some cash.