Hi friends!
I’m back and it feels so good! I didn’t have a set amount of time I was taking a break for, but knew that I would come back when I was ready, and gosh do I feel ready!!
While I was gone we went on a week long family climbing trip to Kentucky (photos on that later this week!) and completed our move from South Portland ME to Watertown MA! The time has flown by, but it’s also been a really long few weeks oddly enough!
I’m 28 years old, and just when I start to think I have a handle on myself, I find out something new about myself. When we moved, I learned three major things:
- You should always pack EVERYTHING in boxes. No matter what. Boxes are so much easier to move.
- Frustration and anger usually comes from a place of unmet expectations and poor communication.
- I truly thrive on structure and organization.
I like to think that I’m pretty good at handling change, especially big life changes. But this recent life change really threw me a curveball. Even though I had been mentally preparing for the move, I wasn’t quite ready to actually go through with it, I guess. The day of the move and the few days after went nothing like I expected (see #2 above). While others may have thought it was going smoothly it felt anything BUT smooth to me. It felt terrible and totally overwhelming. I guess a part of that was me having expectations that I didn’t realize were actually unrealistic.
When we got here, I found myself in such a negative mindset. I thought I had done a good job of concealing that, but Steven said to me very kindly one day last week “you’ve seemed really stressed and not like yourself lately.” That was enough to make me realize that I had been withdrawn, sort of snippy, and resorting to my phone as a way of checking out. I was letting every. single. little. thing get to me. All I wanted to focus on were things that weren’t “right.” And my amazing husband must’ve been catching on because he became super solution oriented.
The dishwasher felt smaller. The fridge is smaller than our old one. The central air wasn’t working and it was over 80 degrees in our apartment for two days. The list goes on. I’m embarrassed to admit that because I’m usually the one who finds the good in everything!
Between Steven and my girl Amanda (who reminded me that gratitude and contentment changes everything) I started to pull out of the funk I didn’t even know I was in at first! I had to get myself organized again. I hadn’t been using my planner, powersheets, or my lifeflow lists, and I realize now just how much I use those on a regular basis. Once I started getting sorted out and back into a fairly normal routine, I started to feel far less stressed and overwhelmed. I also started finding ways to be GRATEFUL about so many things and my heart started to change.
We have more yard space than we originally thought we did. There’s a playground within walking distance. We found an awesome local Thai place we can walk to. Steven can walk to work, and he’s already climbing way more than before (happy husband = happy wife). Lily has been having so much fun playing outside and blowing bubbles, it’s actually a challenge to get her to come inside to eat. We have a little stool in our living room that she stands on and just looks out the window for what would probably be hours if we let her. I get to do more teaching now with Steven’s new schedule. And, we know our house in Portland is in great hands because we found wonderful tenants! The list really does go on and on!
Friends, there are SO many things to be grateful for. When we focus on those things, no matter how small they are, they start to add up to big changes in how you feel. Tell me in the comments below, what are YOU grateful for today?!
Linda is a Boston-based photographer specializing in weddings and creating family legacies. You can see more of her work online at lindabarryphotography.com, on Instagram, or on Facebook. If you want to reach out directly: linda@lindabarryphotography.com. To sign up for the monthly newsletter full of encouragement and real life, click here!
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