One of the reasons for creating this list was for me to grow as a person and a mom. One of the ways I’m doing this is by decluttering my physical space.
Ever since I was a child I have had a strong emotional connection to my stuff. Apparently some people are just like that and others aren’t. Both ways have benefits and challenges and I truly don’t think one is better than the other. My challenge is that I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the course of my life and I had never found a way of addressing the emotional issues that go along with holding on to that stuff.
People in my life are probably so sick of me talking about The Minimal Mom, who has a YouTube Channel that I’ve been obsessed with for a few months now. For some reason the way she says things just really resonated with me and gave me the motivation and thinking to start the decluttering process in my home. It has made a huge difference in how my house feels to me, especially the spaces that are completely decluttered. I took about 10 boxes of “stuff” out of my kitchen to the local thrift store plus have a few boxes of “Time will tell” things. I love how The Minimal Mom goes through her real life house and declutters things in real time – you get to see her struggles and she KNOWS the feelings and emotions that come up with clutter. I’ve now read a couple of books on decluttering and am continuing to work on it because, honestly, it’s kind of addicting! It’s hard, don’t get me wrong, but it’s awesome. By the end of this year I would like my whole house to be decluttered! I’ve been working on it for a couple of months now and I think continuing that process will be great to incorporate into all my other things.
Here’s my update on my 45 books:
3. Think Again by Adam Grant – This book is all about critical thinking and how to think differently. It was jam packed with information and I honestly can’t think of anything specific he wrote about. It was super interesting, but I think I didn’t pay close enough attention… or else the information just didn’t stick. I could have made some notes and then remembered.
Other books I’m reading are Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard (a book club book), and Shut up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji (CBC Canada Reads).
Aside from doing my watercolour painting and reading my books, that’s about all I’ve been working on this week. My watercolour skills are coming along slowly, but this turned out pretty well.
Another point on my list of 45 things is to start my own seeds for this year’s garden. I was planning on buying a couple of grow lights. Instead I bought an entire growing system. It is exciting and intimidating, but I’m pretty excited about gardening this year and at the end of the years I’ll save money by not buying plants in the greenhouses. I like the idea of investing time into this. Also, growing things in the winter will be so good for me and Dylan. I look forward to continuing my journey towards being more sustainable through our food.