I am a bit cleanliness and organized obsessed. I get a huge thrill out of shopping at the Container Store and any office supply store. I love it when everything has its place. I feel great accomplishment when I’ve overhauled a room and I love the smell of clean. If they sold the smell “clean” in a spray bottle, I’d spray it whenever I am stressed. Clean equals relaxation to me.

Well, I’ve realized that I need to be ok with a mess every now and then. As much as it goes against the grain of my personality, I need to let go of the need to have everything looking perfect all the time. In my “be present project”, this has probably been one of the harder habits for me to break.

My girls made a mess today. I was inspired by Pinterest to make watermelon themed cupcakes. We sure had fun making them. Then, my precious Alex decided not once, but twice, to fully play in the bright red icing. It was everywhere. I felt the pangs of my clean obsession start to bubble up in my brain: Clean this up! Now! What a mess! Can I stand this?

Yes, I need to. I need to let go. Even if for just a moment. Let my girls have a completely fantastic sensory experience and model for them that it is ok to be silly. I needed to be present in that moment and just let go of my obsession to clean up. I put a smile on my face. We laughed and at their request decided to take funny photos to commemorate the moment. It was pure joy at its finest and a simple moment in my day when I truly let go. It felt great. And, I have to admit, it also felt good when we cleaned up…together.

Many times, we have to be ok with the mess. Life isn’t predictable, and we have to be flexible enough to live in these moments of truly connecting with someone else. There is always time for cleaning up. We must recognize these small daily opportunities when we have them because too soon, they will be gone.

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