Never Going Back

This is my rally cry friends!

I’m never.going.back to stressful, time-consuming seasonal decorating. When I think back on the years where I would feel all of the pressure to come up with something fresh and creative and more likely to get pinned a bajillion times, I’m seriously embarrassed. Truly. Because it was such a waste.

A waste of my time, my energy, my resources.

I would actually stress out about it. Really stress. How ridiculous is that?

But, something clicked with me a couple of years ago.

I was just done. I needed to simplify. I needed to not spend an obscene amount of time looking at fireplace mantels on Pinterest and trying to figure out how to make mine look amazing.

I needed to put it all in the proper place in my heart and my mind. Which meant, it had to go waaaaayyyy down on the priority list. So far down it almost wasn’t on it.

Yes, I want to have a home that I enjoy. Yes, I love pretty things. Yes, I realize I’m a blogger who shares a lot of decorating so I kinda sorta have to care about it a little bit. 😉

But, I don’t have to care about it so much that I feel almost paralyzed each year when the holidays roll around and I’m standing in the attic wondering if I need to just donate everything and start over.

And, you guys, something really amazing happened when I finally released it all. When I determined to not give into the pressure and panic I would feel when I would scroll through my Instagram feed.

When I just laid it all down and said…enough.

There was this incredible irony in it.

Because, the less time I took to decorate my home for each season, the more I found myself loving the results.

In fact, it started looking like how I had really always wanted it to look way deep down in my heart.

I think that all along I had just been getting in my own way.

It’s funny how much my approach to decorating my home tends to reflect what is happening in my heart.

In those early years of blogging, I felt almost schizophrenic when it came to decorating. I was easily influenced by what I saw in other homes and what I thought mine was ‘supposed’ to look like. I didn’t feel confident.

And this same lack of confidence overflowed into other areas of my life as well.

It’s really taken a lot of time and prayer for me to finally be at a place where even though I still struggle with insecurities and I still have doubts from time to time, I’m becoming increasingly more confident in who God created me to be.

And, just like my home, I’m finding that as I relax into myself, letting go of the comparisons and the pressure, the more I’m actually doing what I really wanted to do all along.

To write books that encourage.

To get real about what it’s like to raise teenagers.

To share with you the things I’m wrestling with.

To provide ideas for your home and inspiration for your heart.

And, you guys, I’m never going back!