Back in November, I shared my story of my remodel with you, along with photos of what my dining room looked like with the contents of my entire life piled into the dining room.
Last week when this popped up on my daily calendar, I figured it would be a good time to update you on my progress, as some of you asked.
To refresh your memory, here is what things looked like just after the remodel. I cannot even express how overwhelmed I was! I was happy to have new flooring, don't get me wrong. But the timing was tough, right before the holidays. The year before, at the same time, I was so consumed with caring for a beloved dying kitty, there were no festivities. I'd consoled myself by looking forward to a better next year. And then this.
I was exhausted just thinking about it. But the words of my friend Katja, who loves to say when faced with an insurmountable problem,"the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time," were there to inspire me.
Rather than let the pile overwhelm and exhaust me out of doing anything with it, I decided to just deal with 10 pieces a day. That was it. They either had to be placed in a storage place or thrown away. I knew if I did more, I would start getting frustrated and shove things out of sight just to get rid of them…which is exactly how people accumulate junk in the first place! This was going to be my opportunity to go paperless.
Here is how it looked this past weekend! Much better!
There were days when it felt I wasn't getting anywhere. And days where I felt like things had taken a huge leap. Days when I didn't want to deal with it at all.
And then I noticed, when I had busy days on my schedule, I would actually make time to work ahead so I wouldn't get behind on days when I was traveling. I just kept going at it.
And then there was the day my parents brought me 3 boxes of childhood belongings from their home for me to go through. I was happy to see them, but it felt like it pushed me back to where I'd started.
But I just kept plugging away.
As you see, I still have a ways to go! Here is a look behind the table. But I'm getting there. I have decided to treat myself when this room is all finished, to a new table and chairs.
And I will check in with my progress in a few months.
Hopefully using this analogy, outside of your personal situation with weight or infertility, can help you to understand that any time you take on a big change, regardless of what it is, persistence and commitment are what you're going to need to have in order to get to the goal. It won't happen overnight and it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
Anything in life that is really worth having requires effort and sacrifice. If it was easily obtained…it would not be something you valued in the first place.