New Year's Resolution?

For a lot of folks, January means resolutions and new beginnings.  There's something about a fresh start and a clean slate that energizes.  It's probably why so many resolutions deal with getting organized.  I don't do resolutions anymore, but I love when things are organized.  Unfortunately, since Erin left the Trenches to work at the court, the Trenches have felt anything but.  It's truly not our fault, just a lot of circumstances and emergencies conspiring so that we've had no chance to play "catch up."  It makes me edgy and the sight of the untidy desk is slightly overwhelming.   Today, I finally had time to do the mail when it came in, catch up on my legal reading, and finish all the projects that have needed finishing since before the Christmas craziness.  I can actually see my desk.  It feels so good and so virtuous, and having everything in its place energizes me.  My focus is sharp and I feel like I can do anything.

What about our clients?  Their lives are perpetually like this year's "Christmas craziness."  Nothing is as it was.  Everything is unfamiliar.  There is no routine.  They feel off balance, out of kilter and confused.  Their heads are full of new thoughts, powerful emotions and strange situations.  Their lives are one big, cluttered desk.  Once they have had some time to adjust to their post divorce life, some calm in which to think, the desk will seem a bit less overwhelming.  If they have professional "organizers" like lawyers, coaches, therapists and financial folks, to help them organize the chaos and work through it all bit by bit, then slowly but surely order reemerges.  The chaos and the whooshing noises in their heads recede, and our clients can move forward in a healthy way.  That's our job here in the Trenches - to make order out of chaos for our clients, so they can organize their internal desks and move on with their lives.