Recently, my sister shared this insightful and fun Youtube video with me from Cassandra Aarssen’s youtube channel about identifying your organizing style, which I think other HSPs and sensitive creatives will also resonate with.
Although I am pretty organized now, I have always considered myself a messy person. Even now, my kitchen is super-organized (I consciously taught myself to keep it this way to reduce overwhelm as I set up house in America after moving here from India) but my closet has lots of clothes on the floor that drive my efficient INTJ husband mad and my arts table is often strewn with tubs of paint and assorted books.
How Identifying Our Organizing Style Can Help Reduce HSP Overwhelm.
While some mess is a part of the creative process (and is healthy for creatives. No mess is often no creation, I think), I think identifying too much with being “messy” is not helpful. For HSPs especially, I think stuff equals overwhelm and part of my HSP journey (especially in a new country with different systems) consisted of organizing a home that suited my own specific nature. For me, that meant identifying some core habits like making sure the dishes were done on a daily basis and making the bed everyday. These added to my sense of control and mastery when I moved to America six years ago when so much else in my life was changing. Amidst what felt like a sea of change, there were things I could do to reduce overwhelm.
Apart from these daily habits, I have become very conscious about buying things (although I still buy lots of books) that might add to clutter or just take up too much time in maintenance. This feels like a way to take care of my HSP nature and my tendency to get overwhelmed.
But there’s always more to learn. Watching Cassandra Aarssen’s video on organizing styles led me to some ahas. She divides organizing styles into four types: The Cricket, The Bee, The Butterfly and The Ladybug.
The Cricket, she says, likes minimal visual clutter and prefers a detailed organizing system. These are the people who will label and file and have things just so. Organizing systems that we often find in the market are usually geared towards these super-organized types. The Bee is someone who wants to “see” their possessions, but wants them organized in a “perfect” system. For example: They might want to organize their books by color or author. They also want to do it perfectly, so they can put off these projects. The Ladybug is someone who tends to hide things in hidden spaces and needs fast and easy systems. They are the people whose home might look organized and serene from the outside, but when you open a cupboard or drawer, everything spills out. The Butterfly wants things visual, but also needs quick and easy organizing solutions. Like the Bee, they want to “see” what they own but unlike the Bee, they don’t want to organize things in a super-detailed way. They want to see their beautiful books displayed, but they would find organizing them by color or author super-stressful.
Of course, we all have a little bit of all of these types inside us. But most of us will identify with primarily one or two types.
An Organic, True-to-You Style can Help You Stay Organized as a Sensitive Creative.
I am a butterfly. I am a very visual person. Guests visiting my home have commented on how I have pictures on each and every wall (I do!) I think of my home now almost like a pinterest board. It’s a place to display things that we create – art by me and 3,000 word puzzles patiently put together by my husband. “Out of sight is out of mind” holds true for me. I tend to forget things that I have put in drawers or the dresser. I love to collect things from places I have been to. They are usually things like books from a local press or an example of a local craft. From a trip to Mexico, I have an Obsidian stone bought from a street market. From a trip to Kerala in India, I have a cookbook containing traditional seafood recipes. All of these things give me pleasure. They make me feel like a discoverer, a voyager. In a way, these things are snippets of little stories, both my own and of people who have made or sold them.
Already, intuitively, I do many of the things that Cassandra Aarssen talks about. For example: I have hooks and pegs on which I can hang my bags and clothes (simple and easy) and my favorite storage solution is a box that I can clearly label for things like seasonal decorations. I also have things that I use daily out on my kitchen counter. I hate storing and then taking out things I use everyday. One aha that I had when I came to know my organizing style was how I have been dilly-dallying about getting a dresser. It’s because the few that I already have, I hardly ever open! They are stuffed with books, some notes, boxes of earrings.
It’s freeing to know that this is what works for me. This is why I felt stressed by seeing super-organized bookshelves. This is why although I love abundance, I also like simplicity in certain areas. There is only so much I can engage with visually, so I like to keep some things to a minimum. Two or three quality bedspreads are enough. I don’t need twenty. That also takes into account my HSP self, which gets overwhelmed when there is too much stuff, when there is too much that distracts.
Thinking about this also made me think about how I compare myself so much to others. Being super-detailed is not inherently better than having a more fluid style that works for you. It’s kind of like how as HSPs, we grow up always comparing our normal to someone else’s normal.
So, what really works for you? Are you fighting your natural style? Are you trying to be a cricket when you are really a butterfly or a ladybug?
If you enjoyed this post, also check out this self-test on Cassandra Aarssen’s website that identifies your organizing style. You might also want to check out her book Cluttered Mess to Organized Success.
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