The first thing that popped into my head when asked to choose something that I was working on, but that had limitations, I instantly thought of the task of trying to organize my room. I have literally been trying to organize my room for months now. It has been a very daunting task.
This may seem weird to some people, but the thought of actually having an organized space made me really excited. My first thought was, “Okay, I’ll get another book shelf, this will help me get things organized”. I was really proud of myself when I got the book shelf and actually cleared the space where it was to go, put it together and got it all set up where I wanted it, the night I got it. I didn’t wait around a day or a week or a month to finally get to it. I thought, “Okay, I’m finally going to get this done”. I pictured my room all nice and neat, everything in a perfect place and spaces for everything that I need or want to do (ie. homework and other projects). I tried really hard to envision how I wanted it to be in the end and I got started. I started with all of my clothes and bedding. I wanted to get them washed, dried and put away properly. I got that mostly done and moved on. I tried clearing off and under my desk and side table. I piled everything on my bed. I do this every time. I feel like I need everything to be off and away so I can see the space empty and then organize it as I put it back. The problem is, this process takes so long that I get tired or bored (or both) or it gets too late and I need to go to sleep. So what do I do? I look at my bed, now piled with things that aren’t too comfortable to sleep on, and I proceed to either stuff it all back where it came from or fling it in a pile on the floor. Then, it starts all over again. It’s like a circle…it never ends. Lol. Usually the pile ends up getting bigger from me flinging my clothes and things on top of it. Eventually it gets to a point where I have just enough of a path to get to my bed, which is fine for a while. However, it eventually starts to wear on me and I become unable to take it anymore. So I try, once again, to straighten things up only to fail again. I don’t know what to do. I know that my stuff to room size ratio is probably way off, but I really don’t want to get rid of most of it. I know there is some stuff I can get rid of, but the bulk of it, no. I have a lot of arts and crafts stuff, which ironically I hardly ever use because of my clutter/organizational problem. I never have a surface to work on so I just don’t do anything. The thing is, I really want to do these things. I want to draw and paint and make jewelry and other fun and creative things. I have shelves, but I think I need some little cubes or something to put on the shelves to organize things. The problem is, this can get expensive. So I’m trying to think of a creative way to get this done. Any suggestions? If I could just get passed this one step, if I could just get (and stay) organized, I know that my life would be so much easier and much more fun. I feel like a lot of my problems stem from this one thing. I feel like if your space is untidy, unorganized, then your mind (your inner self) is likely to be the same. It leaks over into other areas of your life. This may sound dramatic, but I feel like it drains or robs me of any energy or creativity I have in me.
Okay, so with the bead project, I’m not actually sure what my very first thought was. I remember thinking “oh this could be fun”, but I also remember thinking, “what am I going to do?”. Then a thought popped into my head about using the bead as a very small bubble blower. However, I wanted to continue to think of ideas because I wasn’t sure if that would be good enough. I came up with a few ideas, but ultimately I went with my first one. I thought, “You know what, she said we could do anything”. I knew she meant it. I still think it would have been cool to mess around with my other ideas, but I procrastinated and didn’t get around to it before the assignment was due. I still might mess around with my ideas just for fun. I feel like having such freedom can be a good or a bad thing, especially depending on the person. For me, it was a good thing, at least in this case.
I decided to do a sort of before and after thing with this assignment. I took some jewelry wire and cut it to make two pieces.
For the first piece, I created a circular shape, much like a bangle bracelet. 
This represents how I felt before I started the project of organizing my room. I felt excited, but peaceful as I pictured my room becoming the tidy, organized space I wished it would be.
For the second piece of wire, I bent it and twisted it into a crazy mess of a shape. 
This represents how I felt towards the end and after my efforts.
I wish organizing my room was as easy as the bead project was for me.
wrightamanda 