Patience is a Virtue

I promised when I first started blogging that I would be brutally honest with you. I'm about to be true to that. 

I apologize in advance for the "verbal throw up" I'm about to give you. But, I figure some of you might be feeling the same way. You see, here lately, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed.

When I decided to start blogging, it was because I was inspired to make my nearly 30-year-old home. my dream home. I started blogging because I thought it would be fun. I've now been blogging six months and I feel I've done very little of what I originally wanted.  I read other blogs and they are constantly spitting projects out. I feel a bit lazy, and as a result, a little guilty because lazy = no blog posts.

Like many, I'm addicted to Pinterest. I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I admit, I browse the site each night, sometimes with a specific purpose and other times just for the heck of it. But, as much as I love Pinterest, it also drives me crazy. 

It's too much. When I look at all the amazing things on the site and then come back to reality of my own living quarters, I realize there is so much I want to do, but I don't know where to start. 

This feeling has been around for some time, but, last week, I was reading Young House Love's blog. I have been following them less than a year, and I'm blown away by their ability to get things done and pull a room together (yes, I know that blogging is their full-time job, but still...). 

Young House Love just recently moved into a new house, so they decided to do a comparison between their new and old house. As they walked through the pictures of their first house at the eight-month mark, I realized how much time it had taken them to get it to the perfect place I had seen when I became their blog reader. In the beginning, they didn't have matching furniture,  perfect paint colors or all the little details done. 

And this gave me hope.  

I can't have it all overnight. My mentality is I want to get every DIY project done. I want to paint everything. I want to re-do cabinets and vanities and furniture. And I want to do it all now. But, all of this takes times. Patience is a virtue I need to put into practice.

So, I decided to take a small step back. A few weeks ago, as this overwhelming feeling was upon me, I took a trip to the library and decided I would check out some decorating books. I just wasn't feeling like I had the natural "eye" for design and thought the best way to learn was to study up. 

I ended up with four books. I quickly went through two that were not very helpful, and just when I was about to give up on getting any help, I discovered these two little gems.

I should have known these would be worth the read, because several bloggers had them on their list of best books.

I don't want to get your hopes up. These books didn't make me an overnight designer. Matter of fact, all they really did was give me some common sense tips. But, that's exactly what I needed. 

I needed someone to help me get a grip on all the ideas floating through my head. I needed someone to help me figure out what is best for me, my style and my lifestyle.  

One of the main things I took away from the books is to have a plan. I decided to take this to heart and start a to-do list. So, over the weekend, I sat down and made a sheet for every room of the house. On that sheet, I wrote down every "project" I wanted to do for that room and everything I wanted to change. This even included the DIY projects I had in mind.

Some of the things on the list may get accomplished this weekend, but some may take years. And that's okay. 

This simple task made me feel so much more organized. And, out of it, I feel I have a bit more direction. 

So, all that to say, I've been given some renewed hope and have re-gained the excitement I once had. I've come to the conclusion that this is not my job, it's my hobby, and it should be fun, not stressful. But through it all, I will keep my perspective and not let this become my obsession, because my worth is not in my house. And at the end of the day, all these "earthly" things can be taken away from me in an instance.

I have already created a list of things I'd like to get done this long weekend, but if I don't get to mark everything off the list, no sweat, because there is always another day.