Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 356 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! I hope this finds you doing things you love with people you love and people that support you. That’s a good place to be right? I hope you love your life and where you’re heading. A big part of loving your life starts right at home. Loving your space. Look around where you are right now. Maybe you’re in your car, maybe you’re in your home or your office, wherever you are, do you love being there? Another part is loving who you are, loving your body.
We are so busy running here and running there that we often forget to just stop and breathe and enjoy our surroundings, in a way, caring for our surroundings IS caring for ourselves. Caring about our environment in which we live is a part of loving who you are. The two are intertwined. Now, some take it to the extreme in that everything has to be perfect, so perfect that you’re upset when someone sets a drink down in the wrong place or leaves shoes in a place they are not meant to be, or maybe your body fat percentage is 2% more than you want or the scale is 3 lbs higher. But on the other extreme some just don’t take the time at all to care for their environment or their health. Maybe that’s because you think too you’re busy. There are lots of different reasons for that, maybe you feel like it’s temporary so you think oh I don’t want to put time into this place, I won’t be here long. Or maybe you just don’t think it matters so for example, your car….it’s just a way to get from one place to the next. Or maybe you think because no-one else will see it or another big one is because we don’t have the money or the time to make it perfect so we just don’t to do anything…..It’s that all or nothing attitude that has us living in spaces we don’t love, and creating bodies that fail us because of lack of care. You don’t feel good about your life but you aren’t sure why.
Design and the way we live our life are intertwined and have similar characteristics in how they affect our world.
So for example I have been working on a fun project and my inspiration for that project is Wabi Sabi design. Wabi Sabi is a very earthy natural design style that is not stuffy or perfect…in fact it embraces the imperfection so it embraces things like adding unfinished art sketches to your space or imperfect baskets but it also is very clean so no clutter and very very neutral colors. Creamy whites and beige. The idea behind Wabi Sabi, which is a Japanese style is that imperfection is an important part of life and it’s something that we should all embrace. Im very drawn to the style because it’s natural, it mimics nature in that it is imperfect in a very perfect way. Just like you and me. Imperfection is something that is unavoidable and when we try to have everything perfect, we are gonna come up short because it’s impossible to have perfection in design and it’s impossible to have perfection in life. So why not just embrace it which helps us to connect with nature and also appreciate the beauty of the imperfections.
If everything were perfect, it would be boring. Have you ever been into a house or a space where everything is so perfect you are afraid to sit down, it feels stuffy and stifled, unnatural in a way? We don’t feel comfortable in those spaces because that’s not reality, it feels like we’re having to trying too hard, like it’s asking us to be something we are not, asking us to be perfect and we just aren’t. This last year my hair has been getting so curly underneath and its starting to get really hard to tame, let me just say that. So I was frustrated the other day and I was showing it to Eric, my husband and he said I think it is so beautiful. It gives you a natural, almost like you’ve been hanging at the beach look, which he loves. I have found the more I try to tame the curls the more coiffed I feel, which is another word for “FIXED”. If you know me, I love natural, if it’s natural, I will probably love it, so here I am fighting what’s natural with my own hair and the more I fight it the less I find that I like it because it wants to be curly and me trying to make it something it isn’t is making me crazy because it goes right back to being curly as soon as it gets humid, which if you know anything about Memphis, you know how that’s workin out. So Im learning to just go with the flow and be free of the need to have it different than it is. Im embracing what I see as imperfection and choosing to see it as it is…naturally beautiful. Perfectly imperfect.
We are each perfectly imperfect….. that’s why I love the idea of Wabi Sabi design, it doesn’t call for our homes to be perfect, it calls for them to be relaxed, soothing, beautiful and natural which means there will be imperfections by design. We feel good in spaces that reflect who we are, and maybe in some cases who we want to be. Maybe chaos is where you live right now but you long for a little more peace….Is there a space in your home where you can create a feeling of calm? One where your brain can go to settle? When there’s a lot going on in a space, there will be a lot going on in your mind as well…for me, even if I close my eyes in a space like that, I still feel the chaotic energy. Our brains like a calm space free of clutter, that allows it to rest, do you have a space that does that for you? It will look different to each one of us. That’s what makes us unique.
Living beautifully doesn’t mean perfection, it means being intentional in the way you care for your surroundings, your body and your life. When you’re trying to be too perfect in any one of those areas, it feels so forced and difficult because you’re trying to be something you’re not….you’re not perfect and when you try to be, life will show you over and over it’s not possible which will be so frustrating until you realize it’s asking you to embrace your imperfection. But the flip side is when you aren’t trying at all. You’re so busy that your bed is a mess when you leave for the day, your car is full of yesterdays McDonald wrappers and Starbucks cups. Your body is clogged from eating for convenience instead of eating for energy and your home is just a place you land to eat and sleep. Embracing imperfection allows us to find a balance between those two. Its a balance between trying to reach perfection and not trying at all. Living beautifully and living a wildly successful life does not mean perfection but it does mean excellence. Excellence is a good goal. Perfection is an impossible goal.
Embrace the imperfections, don’t fight them. Have excellence as a goal instead of perfection. Statistically when excellence is the goal there’s a variance in the range, so yes your standard is high but its not rigid and it is only comparative to you and where you were yesterday not to someone else.
What does this mean really? It means love who you are now but also make sure you love where you’re heading. Where’s the momentum going? It means creating a beautiful clutter free space even though you don’t have the budget to totally redesign it…so just taking out the things you don’t love and keeping only the things that bring you joy, that will change your life on its own. It means clearing the trash from your car even though you don’t have the time to detail it completely. It means eating a healthy dinner even though you blew it at lunch. It means making the bed even though you don’t have time to do those hotel corners you like.
When you reach for perfection, you’re gonna fail and you’re going to tire yourself out trying. But when you don’t try at all because perfection isn’t possible, you’re gonna fail there too. My challenge to you today is to find the balance between the two. Share this with 3 perfectly imperfect people, I love you guys I’ll talk to you in a few days.
