Five Minute Friday: Order

 It's Friday! Fri-yay!!! If you're a regular around this page, you know I'm a nursing educator, so sometimes during the summer I don't know what the day is... but I saw a meme yesterday on Facebook that made me chuckle. It said, "The closer to August it gets, the more likely I am to know what day of the week it is." 

During the semester, my theme song should be "Everybody's workin' for the weekend." This summer, though, I have really tried to be intentional about my time, and I hope to continue that once I start back to work. I don't want to be that person who wastes their life wishing for another day...

With that being said, I hope your Friday is fabulous, your weekend feels long, and you do one thing that makes you smile. 

Around here, for the past few weeks, at least, since I've dipped my toes back into the writing water, Fridays also mean Five Minute Fridays, where I link up with other writers to write on a one-word prompt. I set a timer for 5 minutes and write... without editing (except I can't help but backspace if I see a spelling error), without overthinking, and then hit publish at the end of the five minutes. This week's prompt is: ORDER. 

and... GO...

My office, if you want to call it that, is a den of chaos. I have piles upon piles of books spilling out of bookshelves. There are three tubs of things I moved out of my office from Morehead... pictures and collectibles and conference notes. There's my yoga mat and my pound sticks. Bible study books, half finished. 

As I start focusing on what I want to do in the future, with school and work and writing, I know I need a designated space, so some sort of semblance of order needs to be created. The funny thing about order and organization is that what is "in order" for one person may not be "in order" for another. 

Case in point: every time I have ever attempted to organize an office, I lose something. Not permanently lose it, but when I start needing a form or notes I've taken on something, when it's "organized" it disappears. 

Order in my office and living space often occurs in stacks. Stacks of folders. Stacks of papers. Stacks of books. 

But is is ordered chaos, because when in stacks, I generally know which pile something is in. I can put my hand on it fairly quickly, depending on where it is in the stack. 

My "order" would drive somebody else crazy, but it works for me. 

I work best when I am surrounded by what appears to be disorder... I can picture back to when I was working on my research project for my doctorate. I would be sitting in my bed with piles of paper all around me, notes and journal articles and postits... 

and then, somehow, all those would be merged into one finished product. 

With a logical, recognizable order. 

So, with organization, if you aren't a pinterest perfectionist, don't despair. Figure out  a system and go with it. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so, too, is order. 

Check out other writers and their thoughts on order here. 

And share... how do you "put things in order?'