Find the CAN

Sometimes I enter a cluttered room filled with to-do piles and I think, "I just can't." After all, I came into that room with a specific task to do and I simply can't take on all the things that now stand before me. I feel overwhelmed and irritated and defeated. But recently, I've been trying something new and it seems to really be working. Rather than going to extremes, either dropping everything and taking on all the new tasks or totally ignoring them all and feeling horrible about myself, I have been agreeing to do one small thing. I acknowledge that I'm already busy and on a mission. I don't want to disrespect the momentum and focus I have. But I have come to realize that I can usually add on one small extra without experiencing a negative impact. For example, let's say I bring up a full load of laundry into the bedroom and I see that my bathroom is cluttered with things that need to be put away. Rather than forget the laundry and clean up the bathroom or just curse the bathroom as I put the laundry away, I add just one small thing. I put all the laundry away and then I take my water glass down to the dishwasher. I haven't solved the bathroom. But I didn't let it derail me. I also didn't ignore it. I am one water glass closer to a clean bathroom! I found that doing small steps like this have greatly helped me lift my mood. I don't feel like a failure. I feel like a BOSS because I did all the laundry and even took extra measures to clean up another space. YES!!! I have learned to find a little "can" in "I just can't," and those three letters are making all the difference.