If walk around your house and this is what you see:
Dirty socks that your kids just CANNOT seem to put in the hamper.
Pet hair on way too many surfaces.
That crooked picture frame hanging on the wall—the one you’ve passed a hundred times but somehow haven’t straightened.
Then you mentally compare those images to all of the immaculate, professionally styled homes we see on Instagram and Pinterest.
And suddenly, it seems like everything about your home is WRONG.
We’re here today to beg you: Quit buying into that story!
Your Home Is Beautiful for More Than How It Looks
Just like you, your home is beautiful for more than how it looks.
It’s beautiful for how it keeps you and your loved ones safe. It’s beautiful for how it supports you in pursuing your dreams and using your gifts. It’s beautiful just the way it is.
OF COURSE, we can do the work to improve our homes. There are tons of ways to get rid of the excess clutter and create simple systems that serve you. (In fact, check out 10 Clutter-Clearing Strategies or 21 Quick Wins to Simplify Your Home Life or for exactly that!)
We can straighten that dang picture frame, declutter the closets, and attack the stacks of paper that always accumulate on the kitchen counter. But action will only ever take us part of the way. Mindset—perspective—takes us the rest.
You won’t remember the quality of your home as much as you’ll remember the quality of the memories you made there.
Think back to your childhood home, your first apartment, or even the first home you owned. When you look back, you think of who you became throughout those years in that home—not the way it looked.
So even if you did NOTHING to improve your home, could you nurture some positive thoughts about the roof that keeps you and your family safe every night?
What if instead of criticizing your home for everything it’s not, you thanked it for everything it is?
9 Things to Love About Your Lived-In, Imperfect Home
1. It provides shelter and safety.
That seems so simple, so obvious, but when you think about the thousands of people around the world who don’t currently have one consistent place of shelter, it’s suddenly an incredible gift.
2. It offers temperature control!
During a long, hot summer think about how grateful you are for AC. Not too hot and not too cold is such a blessing.
3. It has a story—a heritage.
Who did it belong to before you? And before that? Did someone get a break on its rental rate right when they desperately needed it? How did YOU find your current home? Did you feel “led” to it in any way? Your home’s story becomes a part of your story.
4. It’s the backdrop for hundreds of memories.
You can’t put a value on the number of memories—and the amount of growth—a home contains.
5. It supports you in pursuing your dreams and using your gifts.
Picture the spaces in your home—whether it’s the kitchen, your desk, a reading corner, or a craft room—that have supported you in pursuing your gifts.
6. It has windows and doors that let in light and air.
No matter how small, old, or cluttered your home is, if you can open doors and windows to generate a cross breeze—and if you can watch the light change throughout the year—you’ve got something special going for you.
7. It has dozens of quirks that only you know about.
Like how every morning you hear the upstairs floors creak a bit when your people begin to stir. Or the loose stone that lets you know your partner is home from work.
8. It provides you with a peaceful outdoor space, no matter how small.
Whether it’s a yard, patio, or even your front step, your home offers you a place where you can put your feet on the earth or feel the breeze on your face.
9. It reminds you that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.
Homes are the perfect metaphor for life. They teach us that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. They remind us that beauty is more than surface deep. They remind us that no matter how tumultuous the world gets, you can always have a place of refuge inside yourself.
Read the original blog: 9 Things to Love About Your Lived-In, Imperfect Home
THE LIFE ON PURPOSE MOVEMENT BLOG / SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 by ERICA LAYNE
