A Goddess Is Born

It was only a few months ago that I found myself in a cluttered home, overwhelmed by life, without a career, and most frighteningly, a single mom of two. I had spent the last few years wallowing in self pity and doubt, but I knew that my early spring had arrived. It was time to take charge and literally reorganize my life. I started with the most obvious place, the bedroom closet. As I pulled out every single item of clothing, creating a mountain on my bed, I performed my own personal fashion show. I began to really look deeply and see what I really loved and wore often and what made me feel just ok or was rarely worn, if at all. The latter pile ended up in a bag destined for Good Will. As each item flew into the “bag of dismissal,” I began to feel something strange but familiar. It was almost a sensation of becoming lighter. I quickly became enthusiastic in my endeavor and started pulling shoes out and belts, and socks and tights and whatever other items were lurking in the dark corners of my closet.

Finally, it was completely empty. It was ready to be refilled with only the best of the best, and with the kind attention that only I could give my precious clothing. I began to put back work clothes and then casual clothes, followed by clothes that could double as both. There was a long pants section, a skirt section, and even my workout clothes earned their own special closet space. My shoes ended up in neatly labeled clear shoe boxes, fitted with digital pictures of the contents, attached neatly to the outside of the box. This way I would never, ever forget about those sassy red pumps that maybe were worn only a few times a year, but a definite necessity for special occasions.

Before long, my task was completed. I stood back and admired my beautiful masterpiece. Every piece of clothing had its special place, and because I am an extra special Virgo, everything was hung according to color as well. Not only did I feel a sense of accomplishment, I began to feel like me again; something that had been lost over the many years of playing the part of some idealized housewife and mother. Whose ideal was it? Well, I’m not so sure, and I guess that is why it was time to redefine myself. For some reason, this process needed to start with a complete overhaul of my belongings.
I quickly moved from room to room in my home and ripped everything out of closets, cabinets, bookshelves, storage rooms and more. Thoughts raced through my mind, “what else can I rearrange and make more functional? What else can I get rid of?” I created mountains upon mountains of everything in my house, while dancing to music, of course. As I sifted through each pile, I began asking myself, do I really need this? How important is it? If it was not loved or needed, it was tossed into the growing Good Will pile that had begun with just a few shirts. I organized my kitchen, my office, the kid’s room, the basement, the family room and every last hall closet. Three days later, it was done. I was free…. Free to live my life and move forward. It was my chance to start over and I was liberated.

As I began to show off my newly organized home to friends and family, I noticed how increasingly excited I became and felt the need to explain every organized system in great detail. Compliments began flooding in and subtle comments like “can you come do the same at my house” became increasingly common. Then it occurred to me; I really like doing this. I am really good at this. I have been an extremely organized person my whole life, but had forgotten who I was. I wanted to help my friends feel the same exhilarating freedom I felt and to have everything in its place. I wanted to give them a way to find more time to enjoy their families, homes and life. And why stop with those closest to me? At the risk of sounding too cheesy, I knew at that moment that I had a gift, and I wanted to share this gift with the world. And thus, The Organized Goddess was born…. or in a sense reborn, for she had always been within me.