For the past eighteen months, my life has been in a complete transformation so much that parts of me are unrecognizable. This is a good thing but making monumental changes can use up a lot of energy. I had been so focused on finding myself, creating a thriving business and building a different relationship with my kids that many things were neglected, mainly housework. After pushing hard in business, transforming my being and making a major effort to connect with my kids at a whole new level, the time had come to shift the energy of the home as well.
On June 2, we embarked on an overhaul of the upper floor. I can't say that I was excited about it but it was time and from somewhere deep inside, I mustered up the energy to put my shoulder to the wheel and push along...for nine long and labor intensive days. Everyone laughed at me when I scheduled 10 days for this project but as the days wore on, it was apparent that I may actually have some wisdom in my wee lil' noggin.
We began with Lizzie's room. She was moving into Jasmine's old place and in essence, she was downsizing. Lizzie is an artist at heart. Every part of her room involved paint brushes, canvases, charcoal, little sketches and pencils of every thickness and collections of beads and twine for jewelry making. She wouldn't win the June Cleaver award for cleanliness or even be nominated...and even she was shocked when we moved her mattress and found....um....stuff. Her move took the longest but the energy of her new room motivated me to keep going. It was refreshing and peaceful in her new place. Hearing her tell me that she never wants to let her space get like that again made me proud and glad we put so much time and energy into beautifying her new room.
Next we moved Emma out of the room she shared with Ellie. Emma is very organized and had 'pre-packed' her things in preparation for her turn. Her closet actually felt empty and it was hard to avoid adding things to her room just for the sake of filling it up. Over time, I know she will fill the space but for now, things are organized and in their proper place. Although she struggled the first few nights, she is settling nicely into having her very own room.
Ellie's room was next and even though she only needed to reorganize, we still needed to wash walls, baseboards and blinds like in the other rooms but with remaining furniture in the way. It wasn't difficult like Lizzie's room but certainly just as exhausting as we had been pushing hard for many days already. Ellie loves to keep the little trinkets and her biggest concern was 'when will we get to decorate?' Eventually, she did have her turn to put up shelving and her glass collectibles on the walls and she and Emma even are starting a 'quote' wall in their rooms. Ellie still wants to sleep where I am at night but I do think she'll find her way back to her new space soon enough.
Last was our loft. It looked as though a tornado hit by the time we got to it. So much stuff was moved into it temporarily that we couldn't even walk through it. We had to send little Ellie in to dig out for us. It wasn't as horrible as we thought it would be and we finished in about 2 days. Near the end, the sweet girl I hired to help out I think was just throwing things away but we'll never know and probably never care if she did.
The entire project took a total of 255 man hours (i gave credit to each kid for 4 hours a day of work) between 2/3 adults and we worked for 9 long and intense days. We hauled off an entire Expedition full of donations, we gathered about 14 bags of trash between 3 bedrooms (yea, don’t ask) and we recovered about 40 pair of underwear and matched numerous lost socks. All in all, the project was a success AND the kids are keeping it clean and everyone felt a shift energetically.
I didn't post the worst pictures above...who ever does? But it was pretty bad and I think it turned out pretty good!
Lizzie's Room "After"
Emma's Room "After"
Ellie's Room "After"
the Loft "After"
Cleaning and purging things in your home is a funny thing. It reminds me a lot of throwing up. At first there is this ache that you just want to go away but you know what it will take for that to happen so you do everything you can to avoid it. Eventually though, you know what needs to happen and its going to happen whether you like it or not. So, you do what you need to in preparation for the purge. In the process, you hate it. You want it to stop but there is no alternative. Then, relief. It is over and the ache that preceded is no longer there. You feel better and you realize that what you were holding on to you needed to be released and you are finally free.
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