This post may be sappy or even corny, heading into Thanksgiving and the holiday season, but I feel a pull to stop and be thankful for my home just the way it is.
In the never-ending barrage of images, DIYs, elaborate renovations, and makeover shows, it's easy to look around our home and see all that we need and want to be done. We start to go into that second-guessing mode of feeling like we picked the wrong paint color, that the carpet needs to be replaced with hardwood floors, or that the living room is more like a playroom and in complete disarray, certainly nothing like those Insta pics. We get sucked into the vortex of feeling like we need to buy a new rug, that our cabinets need to be painted, that we should decorate our kid's room or makeover our office space, or just suck it up and do that kitchen remodel already. The list can go on and on, from little things to big things; it knows no end.
I most certainly fall victim to this cycle of wanting and comparing on a quite regular basis. Our home was built in 1925, and so, as you may guess, it has more than its share of imperfections. Charm, yes, but also straight-up weird, old, and outdated things that can take me down a rabbit hole of wishing, wanting, comparing, and shopping. Case in point, I'll start googling how to remove paint from the door hinges, watch videos on how to refinish hardwood floors and think about the guest room that, six years in, is still just a collection of leftover furniture. Instead of seeing the wear and tear on the sofa in a messy room as a reflection of our sweet family, I'll start making it over the whole room in my head.
Sometimes, we're so blinded by the imperfections that we don't see all that is good.
So, as we head into a season of thanks, I am going to flip the script and make a note of all that is good and great about my home, just the way it is. To be grateful for the scratches on the floors because they were made by someone I love. To stop rearranging the furniture in my head and shopping for pillow covers, I don't need. Quite a task, and not one that will come easy, but it will make me more present, more at peace with where things are at, and certainly more appreciative of all that I have.
Sounds great, but how the heck do we do this? For me, this requires me to stop scrolling through social media, full stop. Actually, it requires me to log out of social media so my autopilot doesn't kick in, and without knowing it, I find myself in an endless scroll. When I'm not looking at other spaces, I enjoy mine a lot more. Maybe this also folds into a gratitude practice or journaling. Perhaps taking a trip down memory lane to see how far your home has come will bring joy and thankfulness.
Whatever it is, I hope that you take the time to look up, give thanks for what is.
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