I need to confront any image or myth that my home is immaculate and completely organized. Quite the contrary, I struggle daily to keep up with the laundry, the dishes, the meals, school activities, sports, work: all the "stuff" of life. Don't get me wrong. I am not looking for pristine and perfect. I don’t want to live somewhere where you can't curl up on a couch with a good book, a quilt, and a cup of tea. I don’t want Floyd, our 85 lb "pup" to be contained to a certain room of the house. I don’t want to not eat popcorn during a movie. I want our home to be livable, cozy, and full of love. Undoubtedly, some of this is accompanied by messy conditions.
During a very sad three weeks in our home in February of 2013 after losing our sweet, 8 year old lab, Flint, to bone cancer, I noticed a significant absence in our home of dog hair, tracked in dirt and dog toys. It drastically decreased the dusting and vacuuming but left a huge void. Having a furry family member comes with all the hair, the spills and the mess and for us is 100 percent worth it, so we quickly adopted another dog. A puzzle that is spread out on the dining room table for a month brings a family together. A cherished family memento, books in stacks throughout the home because you are reading more than one, a favorite collection, or your beloved grandmother's silver all bring life and joy and make a house into a home.
So for me, it is not about an absence of stuff. Simplifying, de-cluttering, and minimizing are about making room for those important things that have real meaning to you and bring your family joy. It is honoring what is loved, precious, and important to you and your family and letting go of the excess. As quoted at the top of my blog, “Keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away." -Dunah Mulock Craik
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
