Being OK With Good Enough

Hello Friends!  I have so much on my mind these days. Do you ever have minutes, hours, days like that?  So today, I thought I would just ramble a bit and have a chat with you.  The uppermost thing on my mind is something that I read in a national newspaper.  It was about the rise of "fast home decor."  Much like "fast fashion,"  the article blared out that consumers needed to be "educated" about throwing out their current home decor and replacing it regularly (how regularly?  Every 2 weeks?)  with whatever is trending at the moment.  One interior designer opined, "I honestly think the home decor shopping cycle is not what it should be...I don't think that it's as cyclical as it could be or maybe should be in terms of the way that people live in their homes.  I think there's a laziness to the way we treat our home accessories..."  It doesn't help that with Spring and Easter around the corner, I always feel the desire to freshen up my home.

Vintage Easter Papier-Mache Eggs

 Now I don't know about you but my wallet would disappear in a puff of smoke if I was replacing my home decor over and over again.  Never mind the horrendous impact on the environment of constantly tossing out things.  To be honest with you, way, way back when I lived with my family far out in the 'burbs and driving into the city on a Saturday was an enormously exciting event, I would probably have read the article without blinking an eye and come away feeling like a country bumpkin, woefully out of step with "fashion."    The one constant message I have had thrown at me all my life, from demanding parental figures, and now from clever marketers, is "You are not good enough."  I absorbed that message and it became a running voice in my head that lead to constant feelings of inadequacy.  So I would work myself into the ground trying to gain approval, juggling multiple balls in the air.  Moving to the city as a university student,  I was seduced by the siren call of endless high end stores that called out to me to buy the latest hot thing.  I would see these fashionable girls on the street and I would want to be just like them.  Looking back,  I am embarrassed thinking of the money I wasted on the latest trendy thing and how I would mindlessly toss it aside as soon as the newness had worn off.

Vintage Papier Mache Egg.  I have to face the fact that I have a collection.  But look at the adorable faces!

With time and age, comes a semblance of wisdom.  Slowly, I have become more and more comfortable in my skin.  I know what I like and don't like.  I like vintage things, I like that they have scratches and scrapes because it is part of the history of the piece which makes them unique.  I like having something on display in my home that I have had for a long time because it uplifts me and makes me happy.  Don't get me wrong, I love going into decor shops and admiring all the pretty new things on display.  But now I can admire what I see and walk out again. Or I can absorb the ideas and try to recreate it in my own way, putting my own stamp on it. When I do buy something, I have thought about it and bought it hoping that it will last me a long time. And you know what?  That growing sense of sureness in myself feels sooo good.  Instead of comparing myself and my home to a gorgeous magazine layout,  I am learning to be ok with my home.  Maybe this is all part of learning to be okay with me.  My home may not be good enough for Architectural Digest but it is good enough for me.  And maybe I will always be a Country Mouse in a big city but that is okay too.

I am linking up with Have A Daily Cup Of Mrs Olson and Woman In Real Life.