I am a parent of two, I try to run a business, and maintain a happy marriage. I also volunteer a fair bit, try to work on my house, and fit in some recreation all the while. I guess you could say I’m busy. Things around me get a little messy.

I’m no different from most people in that I try to keep things organized. Organization is good, we’re told. More than just practical, it’s downright ethical to be tidy, not just in speech and appearance but also in your daily routines, your home, meals, and in all things specific and general.

The magazine industry keeps advertisers happy by selling lots of issues promising handy life-changing tips to simply and organize your home and life. Arm-chair psychologists and pseudo-spiritual gurus pay their mortgages with advice on how to reduce clutter or better manage your affairs.

I think it’s all a crock. I think ‘life’ is supposed to be cluttered and messy and generally out of control.

I take inspiration from the bush. If you’ve ever spent any time in the bush (as we tend to call ‘the forest’ here in Northern Ontario), you’ll know it’s messy. Things are growing, living, and dying all over the place, all in the same place. Everything is in a constant state of change and tension.

It’s in this miasma that life thrives.

Embracing the unstable, fluid nature of life and reality is, to me, the healthier and saner perspective than constantly trying to bring ‘order’ to your life and surroundings.

I have a theory and analogy. I’m a life-long sailor, having sailed tens of thousands of miles across Lake Superior and the Atlantic in the full spectrum of weather and conditions, and in all that time I’ve never been sea sick. I’ve seen lots and lots of other people get sea sick or feel generally uncomfortable on boats, and my feeling is that they’re trying too hard to offset or counteract the constant and chaotic motion of the waves. That effort to control – which is futile – is in my completely unscientific opinion the main contributing factor to seasickness.

I have no proof of this of course, but anyway it works as an analogy. Stop trying to fight it, your expectations will never be met and you’ll just be frustrated and exhausted. Just go with it, accept it, move with it, and remember that your priorities are better focused on making the best of your circumstances instead of fighting against them.