Journals

The Trouble of Disorganization

January 25, 2013   

Organization is decidedly not one of my strong suits.  I manage my time well; I stick to my schedule and meet every commitment.  But when it comes to logically arranging my belongings, I fall drastically short.  Papers, cards and toothbrushes are piled together on my dresser.  Books, water bottles, calculators and measuring cups are scattered across my desk.  I suppose I should have learned to clean my room.

All that being said, my room is not the messiest I have seen on campus.  My floor is thankfully clear of rubbish and laundry; my bed is often kept quite neat.  But my mess is perfectly designed to lose things in—wallets and keys blend in with the other necessities of daily life.  I once lost my wristwatch for a week to find it lying right by my computer.

Those items that fly in and out of my hands on a daily basis are the easiest to lose track of.  I don’t pay particular attention to them and so they simply drift from memory.  The truth hits hard hours later, when I am standing outside of my dorm in sub-zero temperatures – face frozen in the wind – realizing that my ID is inside.  Whoops.

This forgetfulness stems from my tendencies at home—where there are no ID readers and locked doors.  At home almost all space is mine; whatever is in my hands as I walk through the door lands on the nearest countertop.  My parents note the development of small “Adam piles,” in the kitchen, in the living room, in the car.  Those belongings remain stagnant until I return to school.

In my dorm room, these piles mix and mingle in the smaller space.  They accumulate on my desk and bureau until each object is indistinguishable from the next.  Suddenly, getting my keys becomes a matter of finding a needle in a haystack, a grain of salt on a beach.