Progress Is Important...No, REALLY!

I am currently in the "I just want this to be finished" part of my move. I ended up getting about 2/3 of my junk moved over to the house on Wednesday, but that means that there is still 1/3 left. There are some small modular shelving units left over there, one bookshelf, and a whole slew of bath, kitchen, and instrument things that need to be packed up and moved over. Almost everything is portable, but I still have to go over there and get things finished up.

I have no motivation to do any of the things that I need to do.

I put up most of my crafting storage yesterday during my Thanksgiving. I now have a wall of white modular furniture shelving and my large television. I also have my computer desk set up with my door desktop and the black bookshelves as supports for the desktop. I am starting my zone organization system up. The markers are going on the left side of the storage - the paper is going on the small shoe holders that are under the television. I am going slowly, but I am making some progress. 

Making progress is important - I have to keep reminding myself of this since I tend to get bogged down in how much still needs to be done rather than recognizing that I have only actually owned this place for one week and have done quite a bit already. Progress is more important that perfection. I am slowly uncovering the things that I am looking for and am getting them out of boxes. I was going to head over to the apartment today to clean and pack, but I think I am going to spend more of my time here than there - I want to put up my upstairs bookshelves today. Once I get those things up, I will have storage in all of the upstairs rooms and more shelves to bring downstairs (once I clear them in the apartment). I have a grocery order to pick up later this morning which will be my entire foray into the Black Friday world of shopping.

Progress is important.

Many times, I find that there is a push for perfection and completion rather than a recognition of how far each of us progresses in our own journeys.

I have always thought of the process of music therapy (and any therapeutic process, to be specific) as a journey. I have started several different maps for the therapeutic process of what I do with clients, but I have never finished it up. Perhaps this will be one of my next creative endeavors - painting a map of what I am thinking about...I could practice my watercoloring ...once I find the watercolors.

I think that we have been conditioned to think that everything we do and experience should be immediate. There seems to be much more focus on getting what we want as soon as we want it with much less focus on the steps that it takes to get from one way of being to another way of being. Immediate gratification is present everywhere - from online shopping to same-day delivery to the focus of getting what we want as soon as we want it! In our rush to be more effective in our chores, we seem to have forgotten that there is work behind each of the things that we demand. When we have to work for our own things, we often find that there is more to every single thing that happens than initially thought.

Is time our most valuable commodity?

I think we have made it so, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. I am old enough to remember having to wait for all sorts of things, and I think I am a better person for it. Now, I do admit that I enjoy the convenience of time-saving devices here - I would be a hypocrite if I tried to pretend that I do not use those things and appreciate time - and I think that there is some benefit in these things, but there also needs to be the awareness that all things take time. It takes time for someone to grow the food that I can get in the grocery store as soon as I walk in. It takes time for someone to sew the clothing that I can order for next day delivery. Everything takes time and effort.

Therapy is no different.

Moving is no different.

It all takes time, effort, dedication, and often that means slow progress.

I am getting ready to set up my Kanban board - this is a system of visually tracking progress towards goals. I have decided to use this system for a bit to see if it helps me move towards completing my quests for this year. This basically means using post-its to track specific steps and tasks that have to get finished in certain categories and tasks. I have an idea for how to set up the board right here behind my desk.

I digress - I always do. 

Progress and appreciation for how long things take to get from start to finish is important. Until you knit a sweater for yourself, you cannot really understand why it is important to pay the knitter a living wage for their work. Once you try to knit that sweater, you realize how much work it takes to create anything out of yarn!

I am just as guilty of this type of attitude as anyone, which is why I have spent all this time writing about this topic.

Progress is the most important thing in any journey. Here I go...