what "intentional" looked like in january...

as each month of this year draws to a close, i'd like to make the time to think a bit on what intentional  looked like for me that month and how it actually fleshed itself out into action.
i want to be able to look back and chart tangible progress,  see concrete goals met.
i want to be able to recognize how it changed my life.

january was focused on being intentional in decorating and housekeeping.
this month, intentionality had one major influence on me.
just one.
but that one was big enough in itself.
in january, i was spurred to action.

i'm all for rest...relaxation...renewal...
i even had a weekend for that around the time of my birthday this month.
but i think, every so often, a good kick in the seat of the pants is in order.

we all work hard.  we do.
and sometimes we can get into such a habit of i deserve to rest...
i deserve to sit and take a break...
i'm just going to take it easy this evening...
and before you know it, those take-it-easy evenings have stretched into weeks, weeks into months,
and we wonder why the needle-less christmas wreath is still hanging on our front door in april.

so, for me, january looked like a lot of DOing and not much sitting around and resting.
a time for everything, right?
well, this wasn't the month for relaxation, let me tell ya.


january looked like an evening, after an exhaustingly long day of homeschooling, spent moving our mail center into my blogging/business desk in the living room.
it was after 7:00, i was waging the mental debate over curling up with a steaming hot cup of coffee and a good book--after all, i'd earned it right?....
OR moving my mail and bills and papers and other not-so-fun sounding stuff.
the thing is, i knew the pay-off would be worth it.  i knew the sense of accomplishment would be greater than the enjoyment of hot java and a few chapters.  i knew i'd be able to cross something off my january goals list.
but still, the inner struggle was very real.  
and that's what i want you to know.
it's not like oh, but this is easy for her...she likes to organize! 
yes.  true.  i do.  but i also enjoy sprawling out on the couch after a rough day just as much as the next person.
in the end, of course, i opted for relocating the communications center.  
and i'll be honest...i really didn't enjoy it at first.
but i kept going, knowing that getting it done would be its own sort of fabulous reward.
and it was.  i was pleased with the way everything fit together...so happy to still be able to use beautiful pieces that i love for practical purposes.

january looked like sewing a feedsack pillow one evening...

it looked like sewing sweater pillows on two other evenings...


january looked like handmade billy balls, and felted wool wreaths and arrows, and homemade vintage-style school posters, and felt-blossom branches, and extra-large-pom-pom garland.  
january looked like many photos added to the #dontjustPINitDOit hashtag.




and january looked like A LOT of fails, too...
it looked like a fabulous woven-wool rug that i hauled home from the bestie's house {after un-giving it to her...kind-of-sort-of-not-really}...only to find that i really liked my old rug better.
it looked like screwing cup hooks into approximately sixteen different places in my new coffee corner, only to figure out that hanging mugs just won't work for us in that space.
it looked like having a fabulous lamp...and then whitewashing that lamp because no matter how fabulous it is, it isn't fabulous if it doesn't go with your decor.  and then after whitewashing it, discovering that now the shade looks terrible on it.  so the shade gets spray-painted.  and covered with three tiers of ruffles.  handmade ruffles.  torn-from-vintage-sheets ruffles.  and then the newly-ruffle-bedecked shade gets put with the formerly-fabulous-freshly-whitewashed lamp, and all you hear inside is womp...womp...womp.  yah.  it looks like that, too. {and if your charitable self is tempted to say awwwwww! it looks good! please. don't.  please trust me that it looks way worse in real life than in that photo above.}
of course, then, it looked like driving to no fewer than seven different stores, searching for the right lampshade for said lamp, before finally conceding that perhaps our match was not made in heaven and maybe this lamp and i were just not meant to be.

it looked like trying approximately eight different newly-thrifted baskets for tea bags in my coffee corner before discovering the berry baskets i'd had in my basement all along.
it looked like more returned picture frames and lamp shades than i care to remember.

but all in all, january looked like a lot more DOing than thinking about doing...
or talking about doing...
or pinning about doing...
or sitting and relaxing and wishing someone else was doing.

january looked like a lot getting off my bootay and getting it done.

if i can carry even a fraction of this motivation into the upcoming months, i'll be elated.

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so, many of us choose "a word for the year"...
but here's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
we are 28 days into 2015...
how has your word for 2015 changed your life?

did you choose a therapeutic-sounding/spiritual-sounding/wisdom-inducing word without giving it much thought?
are you wishing you would have chosen a word with more applicable meaning in your life?
it's not too late!  we are only 28 days into 365!!!  choose a new word!
for that matter, choose a new word each month if you feel led to do so.
the important thing is that is spurs you to change.

maybe you made the right choice on a word, but by 19 days in it had completely slipped your mind?
consider this your call to action, to renewal.
write it on your hand, tattoo it on your forehead {not really, please}, embroider it on a hoop {or order one from me}, put post-its around your house...
let your word seep through every fibre of your being until it's manifested through tangible results in your daily life.

this is my call for dialogue.
let's chat.
i want to know about your word...
tell me how it's changed you already...
or how you have changed it already...
or what your plans are to change beginning today.

talk to me, friends.

xxx











5 comments:

  1. My word for the year is Home - reclaiming mine and opening it up and sharing it with others. January here looked much look your January -purge, fluff & refresh. Still a good amount to go but it feels so good when I get each little spot done.

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  2. My word was SILENCE. Which seems ridiculous to me right now. For one thing everything seems to have gotten louder. My 6 kids, voice in my head and the busyness of life. I might need to change it to an action word, or find a way to make silence work. I love all that you are doing in your home and I totally get what you mean about being intentional. I had a major epiphany one year when I realized that the only difference between me and someone that makes Christmas cookies to share with the neighbors is that they do it! duh!

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  3. I couldn't choose just one word for the year so I came up with 5. Simplify, Recharge, Awaken, Happiness, Create. Right now I'm working on simplify, I'm going room to room cleaning out closets, drawers, etc then doing a thorough dusting. As I'm working on each room I'm also redecorating a bit. It's taking time, so far 3 rooms done but I'm enjoying the process and I feel a weight lifted when the room is clean, I feel recharged and happy. Goodwill loves me right now!

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