Good Enough
September 1, 2009 at 7:52 pm , by Emily
This post first appeared here on March 19, 2009. I have thought about this post many times this week, as I struggle to let go of doing it all and instead, embrace doing a few things well.
I haven’t been in a very good place lately. Where I was once finding beauty, I’m now finding flaws. What I once thought was just right seems not good enough now. I blog about remodeling, change, improving things around me, and myself in the process. But when am I just going to be still and look around me and think that things are good enough? Don’t need changing or improving. That me, my home, my life are okay just as they are? I don’t know. Maybe all this remodel and change stuff just shows I am not as content as I often think I am. My life is simple and it absolutely is frugal. But if my heart isn’t there, maybe nothing really has changed. When the house projects are done, will I simply sit back and be happy with a mission completed and enjoy it as it is for years to come? Or will we just start improving on the improvements because it’s never just good enough? I may just not be cut out for being still and content, no matter how much I long to be.
Or my vision of what content is could be off. Seeing myself sipping lemonade on a sunday afternoon behind my humble home while my kids play and not ever seeing another thing that needs improving may just be the wrong expectation. Maybe what content is has more to do with being able to immerse myself in the process, enjoy each moment, whether those moments involve changing and improving or not. I am not perfect, nor will I ever be. All the improvement in the world won’t ever result in complete and perfect. I can just look at today and be content with what I am right. in. this. moment. For today, it’s good enough.
It seems I am not the only one with these thoughts on my mind. I have read some other wonderful posts on other blogs lately along the same lines. I hope you’ll read them as well.
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by Susan
On September 1, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Hi Emily,
I am a therapist and have an idea for you. What you are describing may not be a problem with never being content. Is it possible you are a creative person – and you just love/need to create. You seem to have picked your home as the primary outlet for your creativity. Hence, you will always want to change it because you seem to have an inner need to create. Perhaps, it is time to expand your creativity to include different types of projects besides home improvement.
You can view it as discontent, but make sure it isn’t boredom. Also…didn’t your little ones start school – are you suffering from young children empty nest syndrome? :0)
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by Denise
On September 1, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Emily, Susan’s comment is good. I hope you give it some thought
.-= Denise ´s last blog ..girl crush =-.
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by Lance
On September 1, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Emily,
A good friend left me with this thought recently: My life revolves around ________ (fill in the blank). As I think about this, I really resonate with “love” in that blank. Not that that’s what I have there – although that’s what I’m striving for. I don’t know, something about this statement really made me think about my life a bit differently, and to what really mattered. Emily, I feel very much that you are a person grounded in what is right and good. Still, you know “you” better than anyone else….
.-= Lance´s last blog ..Sunday Thought For The Day =-.
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by Emily
On September 1, 2009 at 10:10 pm
It has occurred to me in the past year that I am a creative person. I never, before last year, would’ve ever thought this of myself. Earlier in the summer, a family member told me that I have the creative streak my dad and brother have. They are artists – painters – and since I can’t paint for anything, I never thought I had that. I always said they got the art genes. I am beginning to realize that I *do* have that creative/art in me, just in a different way. The comment was made regarding my photography, which I love learning about and doing, but my heart is in words, writing.
It’s all a journey to find where I want to be. Right now. Different from yesterday, not yet reaching tomorrow.
I now see that it’s not discontent, it’s simply needing a creative outlet. I have this house to thank for me uncovering the creative in me in the first place.
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by Roxie
On September 2, 2009 at 6:18 am
Good advice given here. I find that I have to have a bit of creative outlet – it just adds such a fullness to life. As said above, it’s not about being discontent with what you have.
.-= Roxie´s last blog ..I Need to Be Committed =-.
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by Frugal Trenches
On September 2, 2009 at 8:48 am
What a great post. I think there is something wholesome and realistic about good enough. I hope you are having a very good, wholesome and good enough day!
.-= Frugal Trenches´s last blog ..A Giveaway! =-.
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by LobotoME
On September 2, 2009 at 10:41 am
hi emily ~~ i know exactly what you mean which is why i needed to take a deep breath, take a break and hit re-set…i felt a bit hippocritical blogging about simplicity & organization when i felt like i was spinning around in a circle!
i think the important thing to remember is that it is OKAY to feel this way sometimes…it is OKAY to feel this way. i went to an amazing cultivating happiness workshop last night (i’ll blog more about it soon) but the last meditation of the night was from eric kolvig and we repeated the mantra “I allow myself to be imperfect.” It really struck a cord with me…
hang in there and take good care ~
xo, jenny
.-= LobotoME ´s last blog ..{ the FUNK } =-.
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by sarah
On September 21, 2009 at 9:22 am
There is nothing wrong with striving for contentment…creative or not. Trust me, I think we are alot alike but I will never stop reminding myself to be content with myself, my home, my life. I remind myself that my grandmothers, both incredibly smart, creative individuals, were also not constantly “wanting” something else than what they had. They used their creative talents peacefully…making a quilt, a pie, a home…without more material goods, without rushing, without buying lots of stuff, without spending hurried moments…I work for that same way of living in my heart.
I think (and I’m on the same path of learning as you are) that it comes with taking the effort to feel centered everyday…to be grateful, to be calm, to be slow.
.-= sarah´s last blog ..What NOT to Regret =-.
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