Wow, it’s 2011. My life was pretty colorful in 2010, with a mid-year life-changing event, which I’ll talk about later. Obviously I failed to blog at any point last year, but I did manage to repaint most of the rooms in my house. I started with the biggest room early in 2010. Goodbye orange, hello tan; a venture into neutrals is huge step for me after a decade being surrounded by bright colors. It took the entire year before I got around to painting the next two rooms: the bathroom & kitchen. In fact, i got them done in the very last week between Christmas and New Years. And I swear, I don’t want to hold another paint brush…ever!
I did however learn an interesting lesson. I was figuring out which color to paint the bathroom, the first room to be painted at the end of the year. This is a process that can take a month, at the very least. It’s really hard to visualize how a color is going to look on all four walls. So I was in the midst of this process, leaning towards a dark-ish rusty color (funnily, there were hints of orange in it). I changed my mind every day and kept going back to the store to ponder other colors, making the decision that much more confusing. Finally, I asked a friend for her opinion and she came over and suggested keeping the same tone throughout the house and maybe going with a more neutral color, not unlike what I chose for my living room earlier in the year. As she spoke more about the reasoning for such a plan, I finally realized that I had been making my choices within certain rules that were limiting. As I explained why I was choosing certain colors (if the floors are light the walls should be darker, for instance), I couldn’t for the life of me identify where those rules came from nor did I fathom even questioning them. And all it took was someone who unknowingly challenged them for me to completely open up to other possibilities. How freeing that was! Things immediately felt easier and I quickly chose a neutral color which I’m quite happy about. I see now what she was talking about when she suggested pulling colors from one room to the next. I was holding on the the idea that I would be compromising my quirkiness and where’s the creativity in beige, when in fact I was creating more possibilities without the rules that hindered me just days before.
After nearly killing myself with the labor of painting two rooms in less than a week, I pondered this phenomenon. I think we walk around with certain rules that we don’t even think about and we often times don’t know where they come from. So our lives become so small, squished within the walls of old, unspoken rules. So limiting. Sometimes just giving ourselves permission to step outside a limiting thought does wonders. Sometimes a friend or family member can challenge our thoughts enough to nudge us onto a path with less obstacles. But we have to be open to those challenges otherwise, we could cling harder. Try it. When you’re having trouble making a decision, ask yourself what rules you’re basing your options on. Talk it over with someone who can help you challenge those rules. And see if afterwards, there’s movement and a sense of relief as you make your decision.
Here’s to less rules in 2011!
