When I was in college, I struggled with depression. As I was seeking to emerge, I realized something important: just because I felt like wearing black, it didn't mean I had to. I resolved that if I was wearing black pants, my t-shirt couldn't be black, and vice versa. I remember noticing one day as I walked down the street from my apartment toward campus that my thoughts were unusually negative and unhelpful. I looked at my clothing and realized I was all in black again. I turned around, went back to my apartment, and put on a new t-shirt. What a difference!
Fast forward a few years. Ari and I were preparing for our wedding, and one of the tasks was to select a pattern of plates and bowls for the gift registry. To me, all the options looked about the same with one glowing exception. Instead of boring white with various irrelevant embellishments, this one had every colour in the rainbow, with bold geometric patterns. The salespeople tried to discourage me: "It won't go with anything, and you'll get tired of it and be stuck with it." I knew the happy glow I felt when I looked at these plates was not going to fade with time, and besides, most of what the salespeople were suggesting as alternatives were more expensive - their motivation seemed fairly transparent. We registered for the colourful plates, and I've never regretted it.
When we moved to Hawaii, we knew we would be here for at least 3 years and probably more. Faced with that unfathomably long (for us) stretch of time, and tired of giving money to landlords and never seeing it again, we decided to take the plunge into home ownership. The house we bought needed a lot of love, and after we ripped out the grungy carpet and replaced it with imitation wood, we painted. Having a place of my own to decorate, I exercised my freedom in doing what I'd always wanted to do - I painted my kitchen with a profusion of colours. I was inspired by the patterns on my plates.
As a full-time homeschooling mom, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen - preparing food for my husband and 5 children and cleaning up afterward, reading to people, and paying attention to children who are using the largest table in the house to work on their projects. It makes me happy to be in such a cheerfully painted room.
Do you have a room in your house that makes you happy?
Fast forward a few years. Ari and I were preparing for our wedding, and one of the tasks was to select a pattern of plates and bowls for the gift registry. To me, all the options looked about the same with one glowing exception. Instead of boring white with various irrelevant embellishments, this one had every colour in the rainbow, with bold geometric patterns. The salespeople tried to discourage me: "It won't go with anything, and you'll get tired of it and be stuck with it." I knew the happy glow I felt when I looked at these plates was not going to fade with time, and besides, most of what the salespeople were suggesting as alternatives were more expensive - their motivation seemed fairly transparent. We registered for the colourful plates, and I've never regretted it.
When we moved to Hawaii, we knew we would be here for at least 3 years and probably more. Faced with that unfathomably long (for us) stretch of time, and tired of giving money to landlords and never seeing it again, we decided to take the plunge into home ownership. The house we bought needed a lot of love, and after we ripped out the grungy carpet and replaced it with imitation wood, we painted. Having a place of my own to decorate, I exercised my freedom in doing what I'd always wanted to do - I painted my kitchen with a profusion of colours. I was inspired by the patterns on my plates.
As a full-time homeschooling mom, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen - preparing food for my husband and 5 children and cleaning up afterward, reading to people, and paying attention to children who are using the largest table in the house to work on their projects. It makes me happy to be in such a cheerfully painted room.
Do you have a room in your house that makes you happy?
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