MAR. 10, 2006
SESSION NOTES: AGONIZING OVER ORGANIZING
The patient expressed unusual anxiety this session.
He claimed he was undergoing a "severe crisis." It happened when he was suddenly taken with the urge to reorganize the books on his shelves.
I asked him what prompted this decision. It seems he had used the expression "You can't judge a book by it's cover" in a conversation and it suddenly occurred to him that his books were arranged strictly by their covers, grouped by size and color, with no attention paid to their contents.
But to consider their contents posed a big dilemma.
Should the books be ordered alphabetically by author name or by title?
Should there be sub-groupings by subject matter or by genre, or none at all?
Should fiction be mixed with non-fiction, even if the same writer has written in both formats?
And what impact will any of these organizational strategies have upon the aesthetic look of the bookshelves? Will a clean, color-coordinated look be replaced by a motley display of clashing shades and patterns?
I reminded him that often in life there isn't a solution that satisfies every objective, but that some solutions have greater benefits than others.
He then pulled a piece of paper out of his breast pocket. It was a four-color chart that demonstrated how each organizational strategy had exactly equal upsides and downsides, making it impossible for him to pick a clear winner.
When I wondered why he just didn't pick one solution at random, he answered that if he did so, its arbitrary nature would "gnaw away" at him "forever and ever."
I questioned if this crisis was actually part of a much larger issue: his fear of ever making a mistake. Was there a mistake he once made that continues to haunt him and thus compels him to punish himself?
But instead of answering me, he broke out into a big smile because he suddenly solved the problem. He will simply employ each option on a rotating basis.
"Won't that be a little time consuming?" I asked.
"No," he replied. "It will be unbelievably time consuming."
Past Entries:
- (3/3) Session Notes: Dream
- (2/10) Session Notes: Theatre
- (2/3) Session Notes: Relaxation
- (1/27) Session Notes: Cheap
- (1/20) Session Notes: Cured
