Making Sense of It All

I think I just got an insight into myself. I like to organize things. Well, not exactly things more like thoughts, concepts, ideas. I like to put them in a place in my mind for them to make sense. Actually, I wish this need to organize was related to “things” because my room, my bank account, my life could use it.


This organization thing, I can see it playing out in different ways like with my writing—everything needs to flow and have a certain order. One idea has to be transitioned into another and I have to connect it all. I’m not really an off of the top of my head type of girl. I want to arrange and rearrange. And for the most part, the flow is linear…that’s important.

At work, a big part of what I do is organizing the training schedule. I think in terms of compartments or grids, except they function as a puzzle. I’ll move things around until they all fit together. I’m good at making it all fit. Most of the time, it’s not possible because for a variety of reasons, but if I had my way every session would build upon the next…there would be order and progression.

I also contextualize and analyze (OK, Mom, whatever variation of “I told you so” is running through your mind, just stop!). I believe that a certain amount of background information is necessary for understanding and that context usually requires analytical thinking. In fact, context is the only acceptable reason for breaking progression. What do I mean? Let’s imagine that we are walking down a dirt road. It’s a slender road with cliffs on either side. As we walk we happen upon a huge boulder that blocks our path. We know that we have to find a way around the boulder but my thoughts might not always move to that point. I might need to know, why the boulder is there or was it put there intentionally and if so why, by who, etc. Understanding the whys helps me to plan the hows.

You’re probably wondering at this point what this has to do with anything or maybe you’re not even reading anymore but here’s why it matters. This is how my mind works. It’s why I respond so well to the structure and regimen of the 6 Week Body Makeover, why blogging has been helping me so much to organize the things I’m trying to change my life, why I have the unrealistic expectation that putting theory into practice should follow a linear progression, why my son’s “misbehavior” or any weight loss setbacks send me into an almost obsessive mode of needing to understand why so that I can figure out how—they are boulders in the middle of the road after all.
It's great to know that there is a system at work in my brain and not just obsession and compulsion.  A way that I process information and make sense of it all.