Mixed media play from my current sketchbook
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are
ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” Don Williams, Jr.
Spring is here with its promise of new beginnings. Changes brought on by a new job have turned
my routine upside down, and I've been having a difficult time finding a new
rhythm. My discombobulated schedule has
really thrown me for a loop with not enough time to write blog posts,
experiment as much in the kitchen or dabble in other creative endeavors. However, it has been good for me to take a
step back and take a good look at my lifestyle and do a bit of an overhaul.
While growing up, we moved nearly every two years with my
father's work in the military. To ensure that we wouldn't go over our
allotted shipping allowance for household goods, pre-move, my mother made sure we went through
drawers, closets and shelves to evaluate if each of our possessions would come
with us to our new home. Was it still
useful to us, had we outgrown it, was it in good working order or a
prized possession with deep sentimental attachment? I was
always happy to put things in the donate pile because I hoped that someone new
would be getting as much joy out of each item as I had in the past. In the same way, our move would necessitate
having to evaluate if an activity that I had been engaged in at our previous
residence still held enough interest to get me to seek out a group or teacher
in the new location.
This cycle of moves and purges continued even into my
adulthood until it stopped 15 years ago when my husband and I bought a
Victorian house that needed lots of love and care in a suburb of Washington ,
DC
As our renovation work continues in our old house, my
husband informed me that our guest bedroom a.k.a. my craft supply/dance costume
storage/off-season clothes space had to be emptied so he can began work on it
this summer. It took me a few minutes
(okay, days…oh, alright, a couple of weeks) to wrap my head around how I was
going to make my nicely organized things fit into other areas of the house
without making everything look a cluttered mess. To help with my dilemma, to my rescue came a book club pick from my favorite creative lifestyle blog: Tranquility du Jour:
The concept is simple - pull out everything you own, one
category at a time and reflect on each item.
If it brings you joy, it still has a place in your life, if not, then
let it go. Taken as a whole, it seems a
dauntingly overwhelming task, but done as prescribed in the book, it is manageable
and enjoyable once you start to see the outcome. Over several weeks, I have spent an hour or
so on weeknight evenings: one night it
was socks, another it was workout wear, etc.
I have whittled down my wardrobe and folded it as prescribe to all fit
in my closet and drawers with room to spare for my displaced items from the
soon to be under construction room. So
far, I've donated about 10 large bags of
clothes, craft supplies, kitchen and household items, 9 boxes of books and
magazines and shredded a stack of old paperwork that was 3 feet high. I still have to complete going through a few
more categories including the more sentimental items like photos and my dance costumes, but I can
feel the effects of what I've accomplished so far. Things are easily visible and accessible so I can enjoy them plus there is space when I decide to add something new.
With the physical clutter much reduced, I surprisingly feel less
mental clutter and the creativity block that had settled over me starting
to loosen. Now I am ready to tackle
crafting a new routine that allows me time to
pursue the creative endeavors that still bring me joy plus enough room to
cultivate new passions.
Thanks for reading!
Rhubarb leaf buds
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