GIVING A PLACE FOR PEACE

Whatever lifestyle we choose to live by, one thing I have always learnt and I’m still learning and trying to accept is that there is always room for improvement and change if needed. As a girl who didn't really grow up with her mother guiding her, I had one goal, to keep learning because from a young age, I just felt that was the only way for me to become better. My dad never had a special lifestyle he followed so it was an open cheque for my siblings and I to choose from which lifestyle to accept. Yes, he guided us in different ways but he wasn’t bent on making us live his kind of life.

As time went by, I realized how much I love comfort and simplicity. Why? It was very much welcoming to almost anyone but not all can truly understand it. It was the perfect kind of life I wanted to lead and I went for it. It started rather clumsy but it got better and it’s still getting better. I was the organizational queen. As long as it was in me to transform a space, you will always be amazed by how it would turn out by the time I was done. Not that I threw anything out, but things will always look different and more presentable.

I hardly ever had problems with anyone. But things changed when I started staying with people who were not family. They saw that I was doing too much. They started feeling uncomfortable about my way of doing things (cleaning almost every time I find a place unkempt or even doing the dishes or washing my clothes). I noticed that and I was in a dilemma whether or not I should stop doing the things that makes me comfortable just to consider someone else’s comfort. I thought about it for a while and I figured out a way to go about things. Usually, sometimes they are always not around so I take that time to keep everywhere in order.

That way, they don’t have to see me do these things. They most times even don’t notice anything because it looked just the way it was before they left. Was it comfortable for me? Well, the timing sometimes wasn’t but I was at least happy I was able to still maintain a welcoming space and stay peacefully with them. Surprisingly, after some time, I noticed how they started following in my footsteps. They didn’t do exactly well but I was happy they at least try more often these days to keep the space organized. I’m not sure if I was the influence but that alone had given me more opportunity to continue the way I started.

What I learnt from that experience was that sometimes the best way to pass a message is not by trying to impose our opinions on others. Sometimes they just need to hear it once and your actions speak for you. I never spoke about it more than once or twice but after some time things got better. As a minimalist, people at first might find it somehow, I mean, the kind of lifestyle we have chosen to live by but it’s a matter of time and consistency before they understand why things are the way they are for us. But like I said, we should always be open to learning.

This is my response to the #kiss for this week. Thank you for reading through. ❤️