Intentional Choices in My Apartment

I took advantage of the opportunity to be more intentional with this apartment.

When I moved into my last apartment, it was rushed.  Decisions were made in the height of high emotions.  I lacked clarity on what was happening.  I was in survival mode.  I still did a pretty fabulous job with that apartment.  I loved the view and the space and I managed to keep all the personal possessions that meant the most to me.  I remember looking around my apartment and seeing very little that reminded me of my ex-husband.

But this time I have clarity and had the time to be more intentional.  And before I made decisions, I stopped and thought about whether it was aligned with me or whether it was a habit carrying forward from a past life.  It was only through that process that I realized some little things from my ex-husband I had unknowingly carried with me.

So last weekend, when I laid out all my photos, paintings, and other wall decorations, I paused.  My ex-husband would have categorized them and lined them up, measuring to make sure everything was perfectly in line, symmetrical, and carefully spaced.  But there is nothing symmetrical and orderly about me.  That was him, not me.

So instead, I picked up one I wanted to be a focal point, grabbed a hammer and nail, and hung it up on at eye level one wall.  From there I randomly added pieces going outward, mixing medias, subject matters, artists, etc.  And I continued until everything had been hung up.  I think it looks absolutely amazing (even the birch painting I did that seems to tilt no matter how much I try to straighten it!).

As I organize things in my kitchen, I don't worry as much about stacking different sized plates on top of each other, a pet peeve of his.  Instead I think about what I am going to use most frequently and want most accessible and that means some stuff is going to get stacked.

My rocks!  I don't have to hide them in a corner.  I've found prominent places for each of them.  One is my stepping stool to close the blinds in the evening, the cold hard stone beneath my feet a moment of grounding as I end my day.

And I just ordered sheets, quality, sustainable sheets in colors that will bring me joy along with a new blanket to get rid of the red one I hate that he picked out years ago.

These might all seem like really little things but they make the space feel so much more authentically me.