When Cleaning Your Home Becomes Self-Care...
Last week MrJ was out of town for work and I was sailing the ship solo. If you know anything about us, you know he is the neat, tidy type A one and I am the free-spirited, more cluttered, less scheduled partner in the marriage. We fit each other very nicely and help each other grow in our opposite areas. After seven years of marriage I think we finally realized that there is a benefit in marrying your polar opposite...I notice this the most when he is traveling. It is during those weeks that I am reminded how much he carries our family on a daily basis. Some days I am sure he walks behind me, literally picking up everything as I make my way through the house (that might be a tiny exaggeration).
But Thursday morning I woke up, drank my coffee sat in my comfy chair by the fire and read a bit before starting the day. This is a part of my self-care plan that I have created and is generally what happens on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Looking around the house as I sat in that chair and thinking about what decluttering I am going to be doing today (we are doing a 30 day minimalism challenge currently), I realized that by removing the things I had already, the things that don't really bring me joy, the things I was keeping for my "just in case" instances and things just waiting to be re-gifted, I could see my beautiful mantle, my clean crisp bowl of fruit on the counter, the lovely table my parents gifted me after college.
It was like the clouds were parting and I was able to truly SEE the beauty around me again and I got the urge to see it more and more clearly. I want to truly love the items in my home and protect them from clutter reducing their value. I wanted things to shine and sparkle and remind me of all of the precious memories of my life.
So I cleaned. I swept and scrubbed the microfiber kitchen chairs (which were a horrible purchase when you have little ones), I wiped baseboards and scrubbed out the microwave. And for the first time in a long time, it felt like self-care. It felt like I was doing this to improve the quality of my life instead of checking things off my to-do list. I felt closer than ever to my vision of what I want my home to look like and how I want my family to live. It felt so good.
And in that moment I realized that this concept of clearing the clutter to truly see the beauty can be taken with us in all areas of our lives. Cleaning out the cobwebs in our homes, relationships, daily activities etc can really help us embrace the things we LOVE about life right in front of us.
If there was ever a thing called intuitive cleaning, I believe I just discovered it. For me, not cleaning from a list but cleaning because of my vision is what adds value to me in that moment.
My husband came home the following day to a sparkling home when he usually comes home to helping me frantically putting out fires. It felt good to be able to do that for him and honor his values.
I will always be the wild at heart, do it on a whim kind of woman. There is no changing my DNA in that way but in that moment, I learned something truly valuable about myself and my own set of values. I am inspired according to my vision rather than a list and expectations.
With Love,
Shannon