Restorative home.

The days are so very short here. We have glimmering moments of the summer days of our youth, when the air is crisp but the sun is warm. Football days, I call them, because that's what they are and what they should be.

I'm overwhelmed by all the things I want to get done. This is a constant state of my life. I read an article about the level of stress a woman carries and its connection to her material possessions. The study asks its participants to verbally describe their home as if they were giving a tour. The number of words used to describe a cluttered home and a restorative home were noted, then compared to the cortisol levels of the women who used them. Not surprisingly, the women who had cluttered homes, or described them as such, had higher levels of the stress hormone. This makes so much sense to me.

So, I am dispossessing a great many things. I am not a person who does this easily. I started with my closet and instead of hauling it all to Goodwill, I took several of my smaller sized career pieces to a friend. It felt very hard to do at the time, but the fact that she appreciated them so much fueled my refining fire. Now I look at my closet and wonder why I didn't take more.

I am working now on my craft space and the boxes from our old house that probably should have never made the trip in the first place. It is stressful for me, but I had this realization that the craft space would be so much more lean if I would just DO the project that I set out to get done in the first place, instead of just hoarding the requirements. Then instead of storing yards and yards of fabric and batting and thread (and, and, and) I could store a quilt, on a rack or on a bed, and bring beauty to my home instead of clutter.

A restorative home. Yes, please. To be continued...