Create peace in your home when the outside feels overwhelming
Who knew a couple hooks could bring me so much joy?
Sometimes when the larger world feels overwhelming we find comfort in the minutiae of daily life and on the little things we can control.
I’m starting today with a quote from a book by fellow Portland writer,
. The whole book is about grounding yourself in your home and using your space to anchor aspects of yourself and your life you want to enhance.This line comes towards the end and it’s really stayed with me:
“Only now do I fully understand that homes are for shaping the self, not presenting a self to the world.”
When so many of us consume and share on social media, it can start to feel like our homes are something we create for the benefit of others. But really, a home is for its inhabitants, not for projecting an image.
This chaotic week I thought it’d be nice to share some vignettes and solutions in my home that make me feel peaceful. Maybe you have some favorite spots to reflect on, or perhaps you can take this as an opportunity to spending an hour creating a spot of beauty or function to bring you daily joy.
If you have a little spot that brings you joy, please share it! Sadly we can’t do photos in the comments (yet) but I trust your descriptive abilities to bring it to life.
You also can share photos in the subscriber chat, which is always open for input:
Further Micro-Organizing Inspiration
Less stuff, more joy
Something I love about living with fewer belongings is that you can take real pleasure in the items that remain. You can carefully consider how you arrange and use what you have, trying it this way and that, till you get it just right. This doesn’t mean you have to be a minimalist, just that everything in your home is there with intention.
In which I break up with my IKEA organizer
Most of us have or have had organizers like this in our homes. They’re ubiquitous. They emit a siren call, telling us our lives will be more organized if only we had an organizer product to collect the debris of daily life.
A very specific corner of my home I love:
In the corner of our kitchen, on top of our bread box, I store my young son’s needles and alcohol wipes for a daily injectable medicine. He’s on year six of a shot every day, with probably another 8-9 years to go. I knew if I was going to have to have all these medical supplies I could at least make the station pleasant to look at. The sharps box hides in a cabinet, but I have beautiful glass jars with a raised floral pattern, jade green lids, and brass hardware that I store the pads in one and the needles in the other. They’re very beautiful to look at, and you can’t see what’s inside. It makes a hard reality a little softer: using some of my most beautiful possessions to hold something unavoidable and otherwise clinical. As he gets older, I’ll encourage him to do the same for himself.
My house came with severely outdated appliances. Yesterday my new fridge (ONLY a fridge) and separate upright freezer were delivered. Both of them are very easy to keep organized and to see things in. I haven't done a lot of cooking in this house and now that I've put my food into these new homes, I'm realizing at least part of that was how much I hated the 30+ year old fridge.