I’m so glad I discovered your newsletter in time for this post because it totally resonates! Ever since my first miscarriage in 2022, I’ve been on an insane organizing binge trying to tackle all the disaster zones in my house...the basement, the garage, the pantry, my closet, you name it. I was setting artificial deadlines for myself and getting super stressed out by how much I had to do. But it was just like you said... all about the need to control the chaos in my life, after the devastating realization that I couldn’t control growing our family. Thanks for raising awareness about this!
Oh gosh, I'm so glad you discovered it too! I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. And I can definitely relate to the organizing binge. I didn't put it in this newsletter but after I got pregnant a second time and it stayed, I spent the majority of my 2nd trimester and the entirety of my 3rd trimester organizing and reorganizing and decorating the baby's room. The artificial deadlines! So real. Why do we do that?! Thanks so much for sharing your story <3
I am a stress organizer. When I resigned from my position and decided to become a stay-at-home parent with 4 kids, 2 of which had not yet been identified as neurodivergent, I launched into a huge decluttering/organizing project. It was very much about finding control. Thank you for your post, we need to be having these conversations.
Thank you for sharing!! The "decluttering/organization" as a way of finding control in one's life is so real. There definitely needs to be more of us talking about this! And wow, stay-at-home with 4 kids? I bow down to you. I have 1 and am not sure I'd be able to stay at home... though I suspect he's neurodivergent (I have ADHD, dad has autism, both diagnosed in the last couple of years). Will definitely be another adventure and, I'm sure, another big organizing project!
Loving this :Having a child is like seeing your heart walk around outside of your body. “… and this is why it’s so hard, stressful, heartbreaking, and anxiety-provoking to be a parent.”
Also, I tend to want to buy gifts for people as a distraction for anxiety if someone is sick and I’m a bit of a germ aphobe so also, stress cleaning all germed surfaces often kicks into overdrive.
Oh, I absolutely relate to the gift buying! I do that a lot, and did it WAY too much during 2023 when my anxiety was even higher due to not having a job. Ironic and terrible, I know.
I wish I had the stress cleaning gene! Well, maybe not because I'm sure it's stressful. But I am that way with overorganizing the kitchen pantry... definitely a total overdrive.
I’m so glad I discovered your newsletter in time for this post because it totally resonates! Ever since my first miscarriage in 2022, I’ve been on an insane organizing binge trying to tackle all the disaster zones in my house...the basement, the garage, the pantry, my closet, you name it. I was setting artificial deadlines for myself and getting super stressed out by how much I had to do. But it was just like you said... all about the need to control the chaos in my life, after the devastating realization that I couldn’t control growing our family. Thanks for raising awareness about this!
Oh gosh, I'm so glad you discovered it too! I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. And I can definitely relate to the organizing binge. I didn't put it in this newsletter but after I got pregnant a second time and it stayed, I spent the majority of my 2nd trimester and the entirety of my 3rd trimester organizing and reorganizing and decorating the baby's room. The artificial deadlines! So real. Why do we do that?! Thanks so much for sharing your story <3
I am a stress organizer. When I resigned from my position and decided to become a stay-at-home parent with 4 kids, 2 of which had not yet been identified as neurodivergent, I launched into a huge decluttering/organizing project. It was very much about finding control. Thank you for your post, we need to be having these conversations.
Thank you for sharing!! The "decluttering/organization" as a way of finding control in one's life is so real. There definitely needs to be more of us talking about this! And wow, stay-at-home with 4 kids? I bow down to you. I have 1 and am not sure I'd be able to stay at home... though I suspect he's neurodivergent (I have ADHD, dad has autism, both diagnosed in the last couple of years). Will definitely be another adventure and, I'm sure, another big organizing project!
Yes, it's a wild ride but it brought me here to Substack, having conversations like these. :)
That's the best part—connecting with each other!
Absolutely!
Loving this :Having a child is like seeing your heart walk around outside of your body. “… and this is why it’s so hard, stressful, heartbreaking, and anxiety-provoking to be a parent.”
Also, I tend to want to buy gifts for people as a distraction for anxiety if someone is sick and I’m a bit of a germ aphobe so also, stress cleaning all germed surfaces often kicks into overdrive.
Oh, I absolutely relate to the gift buying! I do that a lot, and did it WAY too much during 2023 when my anxiety was even higher due to not having a job. Ironic and terrible, I know.
I wish I had the stress cleaning gene! Well, maybe not because I'm sure it's stressful. But I am that way with overorganizing the kitchen pantry... definitely a total overdrive.