Claustrophobia

Yesterday afternoon I spent several hours trying to tidy up my workroom so I actually have space to paint. I wish I could just twitch my nose like Samantha in Bewitched and presto-change-o everything would be organized intelligently and ready to go. But how do you do that when you have way too much stuff in the first place?
On Friday night, Mary and Carmi were talking about the same problem. Carmi moved her studio space and it’s taken her way longer to get things together than she thought it would. She has my sympathy. Three and a half years ago I spent several months sorting everything out and getting rid of tons of things I didn’t need – just like Carmi. If I hadn’t bought any more supplies in the meantime, I’d be okay now. But of course that’s not what actually happened.
Instead I’ve continued to collect more stuff and to wedge it into whatever space is available. While I basically have a place for everything and I’ve trained myself to keep things reasonably tidy, I’m starting to feel claustrophobic…especially now that I’ve started piling stuff on the floor. (Someone told me recently that it’s not a good sign when you go the floor route…it has something to do with your mind being too cluttered). I could solve the problem by putting up more shelves, but then it would feel like I’m working in a storeroom. Yes, it’s definitely time for another big merge and purge, but I have too much to do right now. I’ll just have to grit my teeth and focus.