There have been a few things on my mind these last few weeks. Mainly the cleanliness of my home. How I spend my time. And the goals I have for myself and my family that has changed. I have been feeling the need a purge/ declutter for a few weeks and thinking about what I didn't want or need anymore. I have had a few boxes sitting in the living room for several months waiting to be donated, and this past week I finally finished adding to them and will take them to Value Village. Okay, I only added a few things that I have known for a long time that I do not use and finally accepted that fact about myself and got rid of the items. I still want to go through every room of our home and purge. No, I do not expect to get rid of a lot more, but some nonetheless.
For years now, I have enjoyed organizing and decluttering. No, I'm not a minimalist, but there is something so satisfying about getting rid of stuff and not being weighed down by things. I have a backpack-style purse and love it. It is always full of stuff for "just in case," and nine times out of ten, I do not need any of it. I cleaned it out a week ago, and it felt great having less weight on my back. I like to carry a book and notebook everywhere just in case. Most of the time, when I am out, I'm running errands, and thus I'm not waiting in the car with a few minutes to spare to read. So, now I take a better look at what activities I will be doing when I leave home and judge properly if bringing the extra weight of a book is reasonable.
I realized I spend a lot of time cleaning or thinking about what needs to be cleaned and arranging my weekly schedule to fit it all in. Like most of us, I'm a little tired of it. It occurred to me that if I had less stuff, I would have less to clean and maintain. Like I said earlier, I collected a handful of items that I had been thinking of donating and added them to the existing boxes, and now they are ready for their new homes. I don't mind cleaning and I enjoy a clean home, but if I spend most of my at-home time cleaning or thinking about cleaning it's time for a change. Time to reevaluate some of the stuff we have in our home. Of course, I'm not talking about family pictures or sentimental stuff. Just the stuff that we never use but always think we will someday. Like battery-operated candles. Candles scare me, so I bought battery-operated ones thinking I would enjoy them. Never used them. All they do is collect dust. So into the box they go.
I have also been thinking about a concept I learned while working from home for the call center, "Good, better, best." It was an exercise we used while learning about taking customer calls. We would listen to a recording and evaluate the call via "good, better, best." I asked myself if the activity I was doing at the moment (likely scrolling on Facebook, I don't remember the exact moment) was a good use of my time or if there was an activity that was a better/ best use of my time? Note. There is nothing wrong with hanging out on Facebook or any other social media. They have their purpose. I just use them too much. Anyways, I then found an activity that was a better use of my time and continued with my day. I have slowly been practicing my "good, better, best" question and find myself being more productive and managing my time better. Now I have more time for the things I enjoy and family time. I'm spending more time in my Bible because let's face it. Spending time with God is ultimately the best use of our time. It's not just about my time with God though, I also need to ask myself if one more episode of my current tv show is a good use of my time or if going to bed on time is a better use of my time. Respecting bedtime is always a better use of time friend. Regardless of what season of life you are in, getting a good night's sleep is always the right answer. Because by going to bed on time you are setting yourself up for a better night's sleep and the potential of a great day tomorrow where you can accomplish all the stuff you need and want to get done vs being tired and dragging your feet through the day. Yes, I am guilty of the latter, but I'm working on it.
I saw a quote from a friend on Facebook a few weeks ago that read, "Does this support the life I am trying to create?" Thanks, Kate. I thought it was pretty awesome and, it tied in so nicely with my other decluttering and time management skills I am working on. As you can see it's been a rather philosophical few weeks, and I am now getting these thoughts and action plans on paper and flushing them out.
What Kate said makes so much sense. The things we spend time thinking about, activities we are partaking in, and what we spend our money on are shaping the life we are creating for ourselves and our families. Not a bad thing, of course, just a thing. But are those thoughts, actions/activities, and financial choices the best choices for us and our family? So I have slowly started "cleaning up" my life as it were. I'm decluttering so that I don't have as much stuff to take care of. Allowing me to spend more time with my family. I'm working on reducing/re-arranging my screen time to more book and Bible reading. I am a book worm but I also like screens and I know that the less screen time and the more book time whether that be a novel or my Bible the more relaxed and calm I am. Making me a much nicer person to hang out with. Because stressed out, anxious and tired Hannah is not that fun to be around. Even I don't like her, and she is me.
I am evaluating the goal list that I have been building and working on for the last several years and realizing that some of those goals are no longer serving their purpose and I am simply stressing over trying to make them happen. Like Blessing, our four-legged, tail-wagging little girl. I was encouraged to train her to be a therapy dog when she was a puppy and ever since then I have been working towards that goal. We have been taking obedience classes to a) build a family dog and b) train for therapy. We still have another level to complete before we do can the therapy course, but I have come to realize it's no longer a goal of mine. I don't want to add another thing to my schedule once we complete the training. Plus obedience school and therapy training are expensive. So instead of stressing over that goal, I want to enjoy our family dog. Yes, I want to complete the last level of obedience school to learn more, but that is it. There are a handful of other goals and plans that have now been changed or taken out completely. Because as we grow and change, our goals change with us, and I am now seeing the importance of re-evaluating those goes to check and see that they are still serving their intended purpose, and if they are not, fix them or trash them entirely.
You see, creating an epic life is not about how much you can fit into your week. It's about enjoying the things you are doing. For me, it's a quieter life with my family and not running from one activity to the next. That said, if you and your family enjoy an active life with lots of extracurricular activities, hats off to you. I will be watching and cheering you on from the sideline (likely on Facebook and other social media posts). I was listening to a podcast the other morning while Blessing and I took our walk, "She Reads Truth." I forget the episode or topic, but at one point, they were talking about new Year resolutions and what all they involve. The guest said his family doesn't add goals to their new year like many of us. They look at their life and subtract stuff. I forget all his reasoning behind it, but it sticks with me and ties in nicely with all the other stuff I have been pondering. My take away from it was emphasizing the importance of what we deem important in our lives and what we can give up.
To sum it all up, are we creating the life that we want to live or are we creating the life we think we should be living and likely following someone else's Instagram highlights and trying to copy them? There is nothing wrong with celebrating and sharing our successes and highlights of our day or week with our friends on social media. Trouble comes in when we compare our "lesser stuff" to someone's highlights. Again, not slamming social media. It has its uses and its place in our lives. We (and by we, I mean me) need to keep track of it and what it is doing in our lives.
I pray this post blesses you and encourages you in your walk with God today.
God Bless
~Hannah
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