Consistent small steps
10 March 2025
I suppose anyone working in web design will tell you all about the usefulness of css. However this is not cascading style sheets, but rather consistent small steps.
Many wiser people than I have written about the value of doing things in bits and pieces. Sometimes trying to do everything can leave you in bits and pieces but that’s not the same thing either.
If I showed you the to do list I made yesterday just to try to get my head straight a little you might laugh. However my philosophy is really to do the necessary things first. Those are the things that keep me sober. I wake up and my morning is the toilet, the bathroom, coffee making and meditation. During my day I usually text a couple of alcoholics and or addicts, with some wonderful piece of wisdom I come across from the world of screens. I often get a meeting. I eat, I rest. Those are the only things I absolutely HAVE to do.
However the house won’t organise, insulate, decorate and fix itself. Nor will it clean itself. Seeds are not going to jump out of packets and germinate themselves and compost heaps, and raised beds won’t materialise. There is a huge amount of things to do. Not to forget I am also in the middle of a masters degree in psychology.
I have for the most part broken my day into 2 areas of work and study. Work means physical work. It could be stripping wall paper, insulating a cellar, it could be work in the garden. No matter what the work is, I set myself 2 hours a day minimum. I also do the same for study.
For example today I attended a course related zoom meeting that lasted an hour and half. I also took in a few YouTube videos on how to grow things. I am convinced some of these guys who are growing online, are just over thinking it, or getting desperate for content.
I also dug a bed for planting food. It’s not very big. Still for someone who is as unfit as I to dig it north to south and then west to east, did actually take 2 hours with a few pauses to write a quick email, take a phone call or just catch my breath.
In digging the bed, I went row by row. about 12 feet long and perhaps 10 feet wide, I just kept pushing my fork into the ground. Once I had dug the whole rectangle I changed direction and dug again. One row at a time. If I had imagined trying to do the whole thing I probably would have convinced myself to do something else, but my seeds are already germinating and need somewhere grow soon.
Likewise with wall paper stripping, I just took it in sections. Now I have half the room stripped.
I have found breaking things down into their constituent parts, or smallest viable element to be a great assist in helping me get through tasks that would otherwise be tedious, boring, exhausting or even overwhelming.
My CSS solution is making my life easier. This evening after meal time and a chat with mentor who is also an Alkie like me, I ended up moving two pieces of kitchen furniture. One was supposed to take the gas bottle for the cooker. When I got it sorted there was some sort of malfunction with the gas, so I had to go back to the original set up.
Physically today, with digging and planting and furniture moving I probably knocked out about 4 hours or more. I am more than happy with my progress. You eat the elephant one slice at a time, Rome wasn’t built in day, easy does it… But .. I am impulsive and compulsive. I have to restrict myself so I don’t burn out. I have to discipline myself so I don’t get overwhelmed. So its small consistent steps.
I am here 10 days, I have planted 5 trees, 10 lavender plants, built a raised bed, dug a bed, shovelled a trailer full of horse manure. Rearranged the kitchen numerous times, with 2 fridges, a dishwasher, a washing machine and dining table, so that now finally I have a base of operations that works. I have emptied lots of cardboard boxes and had plenty of other little victories.
The locals when I meet them are kind, cheerful and pleasant. This is not the town of Nice that is for sure.
Anyhow, why am I here? Apart from creating a home, I believe that the care economy, social enterprise and ecological sound living is the way forward. I am trying to create a healing place, not for myself, but for those that need it. I laugh a lot. I get fed up a bit. I am sometimes feeling, not lonely, but sort of isolated, it’s just me.
I understand my higher power, the universe has a bigger plan than I can imagine, and you, the addict or alcoholic who needs a respite, who needs some love and understanding, some good food and exercise, you are welcome to show up and help me build it. The only cost is getting clean and sober. The only cost is respect, humour compassion and consistency. Who wouldn’t want those things?
Drop me a line, give me a call, reach out on the socials at the top of the page.. I’ll be here, just doing the next thing.. however small, to move it all forward.
Thanks for reading ..
Collie
March 4, 2025