This post isn't a big post where I share some wisdom with yall, but more of a post where I share some personal truths with yall instead: I've been combing my brain to try to explain the shift in my thought process that got me to move towards #MinimumWaste, or the big "pow" moment that it all started to slowly click with me in making these types of changes, because I feel everyone 1) always wants to know that story, and 2) needs to know that side of the story in order to relate to the post.
However, as much as I tried, I couldn't really pinpoint an exact moment for me... So then I started thinking about the little things that I did, and I noticed a shift in my thinking when I randomly got into #FengShui... and I started noticing actually *positive* differences in my life.
Let's start with a tad bit of background: I have #anxiety. And not the kind where I had debilitating panic attacks, hyperventilating, and crying, but more my anxiety is worrying about things I can't control, to the point that it fatigues me, and sometimes for a couple days. The kind where I delay making any choices because I'm terrified of making the wrong choice - even when there's not a wrong choice in the situation - because that "wrong" choice could haunt me for life. Getting so lost in my thoughts about things that aren't happening at that moment, that at times, I'm missing what's actually happening around me. While being able to fall asleep when I'm ready to and getting a full eight hours of sleep (or more), but still waking up completely drained.
That's my type of anxiety, ladies and gentlemen.
It's not pretty, and it's definitely not glamorous, but it is what it is. I've managed to keep it manageable, and yes, some situations are worse than others - because it's not a "some days are worse than others" type of thing for me. It's genuinely, situational.
However, this post isn't about my anxiety - it's more of a factor to this post, that if you understand my type of anxiety, you'll understand how Feng Shui helped me. Like I said before, part of my anxiety comes from decision-making, and the fear of making the wrong choice.
So now imagine when you get a new house FULL of choices:
Do I paint this room green, or blue?
This couch, or that couch?
... This list goes on and on.
And it's exhausting.
So I started looking for an outlet to channel my decision-making-anxiety - and to be honest, someone to make the decisions for me - and then I stumbled upon Feng Shui. It seemed kinda of cheesy, and a little out there (even for me), but I was willing to try something to give me focus.
When we started our house, if you remember, we had a master bedroom with no carpet - just cement slab - and hand-painted lighthouse on the walls, but outside of those factors, it was a large room, with a lot of layout options available. The main focus of a bedroom? The bed.
I started researching about bed placement, and I stumbled on an article that not only talked about which walls beds should go on, but directions of foot-boards in comparison to doorways, placement due to windows, etc. I didn't even notice the article was in relation to Feng Shui, until I was about halfway through it, but either way, everything the article was saying about bed placement seemed to make a lot of sense to me. It gave me direction to work in.
However, something that stuck out to me was the fact that these Feng Shui experts say that you shouldn't have things underneath your bed. You can have storage to neatly (keyword) fold your bed linens and extra pillows (basically things relating to your bed), but nothing else should be underneath there. No books. No clothes. And to be honest, you should avoid keeping anything under your bed at all, if possible. Your chi energy needs room to freely flow, and if your chi gets trapped under your bed, it'll become restless, and give you restless energy = bad night sleep.
Let's back up a tad as to why I bought into this idea about not keeping things under your bed: Before we moved into our new home, we lived in a house with Nick's best friend, and so our bedroom space was very limited, so of course we had things underneath our bed, due to a lack of storage. Nevertheless, I noticed that once I moved in with Nick, I started sleeping terribly. I would wake up throughout the night. I felt restless. It wasn't pleasant.
And before you think it had something to do with "sleeping in a new environment" or "officially living with a man", I never had an issue staying asleep when Nick stayed at my house, or when I would spend the night at friend's houses, or anything like that... And those houses didn't have anything kept under the beds. So when I read that article, I said "Why not?", and cleared the storage boxes from underneath our bed before we moved, and put them into storage, and you know what - maybe it was a placebo effect, who knows? Who cares? I started sleeping like a baby through the night. It was amazing
That moment was enough to make me start paying attention to Feng Shui.
So when we finally had a place of our own, I started doing little Feng Shui things here and there, because I didn't want to scare Nick off with all my "hippie dippy" ways. He's very much so a "go with the flow" type of guy, and he let's me do a lot of strange things, but like I said, Feng Shui was new for me, and even a little out there for me. However, we have a rule in our house: if someone has a stronger opinion than me, then we will go with the stronger opinion (within reason).
To be honest, turning to Feng Shui for some of my decision making, took a lot of anxiety away from the #nesting process. I'm not talking lucky bamboo, money toads, and red strings everywhere. Actually, if you read anything the Feng Shui experts say, most of them will agree, that's not real Feng Shui. That's "trying too hard" Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about paying attention to items elements, colors, and how they all interact with one another. It's almost a science, really.
In my next non-house-remodeling post, we're going to dive deep into Feng Shui and the fundamentals, at least how I've understood them, but for now, I just wanted to give yall a backstory as to how I got into Feng Shui, so that the next post isn't totally out of left-field. Until then.
However, as much as I tried, I couldn't really pinpoint an exact moment for me... So then I started thinking about the little things that I did, and I noticed a shift in my thinking when I randomly got into #FengShui... and I started noticing actually *positive* differences in my life.
Let's start with a tad bit of background: I have #anxiety. And not the kind where I had debilitating panic attacks, hyperventilating, and crying, but more my anxiety is worrying about things I can't control, to the point that it fatigues me, and sometimes for a couple days. The kind where I delay making any choices because I'm terrified of making the wrong choice - even when there's not a wrong choice in the situation - because that "wrong" choice could haunt me for life. Getting so lost in my thoughts about things that aren't happening at that moment, that at times, I'm missing what's actually happening around me. While being able to fall asleep when I'm ready to and getting a full eight hours of sleep (or more), but still waking up completely drained.
That's my type of anxiety, ladies and gentlemen.
It's not pretty, and it's definitely not glamorous, but it is what it is. I've managed to keep it manageable, and yes, some situations are worse than others - because it's not a "some days are worse than others" type of thing for me. It's genuinely, situational.
However, this post isn't about my anxiety - it's more of a factor to this post, that if you understand my type of anxiety, you'll understand how Feng Shui helped me. Like I said before, part of my anxiety comes from decision-making, and the fear of making the wrong choice.
So now imagine when you get a new house FULL of choices:
Do I paint this room green, or blue?
This couch, or that couch?
... This list goes on and on.
And it's exhausting.
So I started looking for an outlet to channel my decision-making-anxiety - and to be honest, someone to make the decisions for me - and then I stumbled upon Feng Shui. It seemed kinda of cheesy, and a little out there (even for me), but I was willing to try something to give me focus.
When we started our house, if you remember, we had a master bedroom with no carpet - just cement slab - and hand-painted lighthouse on the walls, but outside of those factors, it was a large room, with a lot of layout options available. The main focus of a bedroom? The bed.
I started researching about bed placement, and I stumbled on an article that not only talked about which walls beds should go on, but directions of foot-boards in comparison to doorways, placement due to windows, etc. I didn't even notice the article was in relation to Feng Shui, until I was about halfway through it, but either way, everything the article was saying about bed placement seemed to make a lot of sense to me. It gave me direction to work in.
However, something that stuck out to me was the fact that these Feng Shui experts say that you shouldn't have things underneath your bed. You can have storage to neatly (keyword) fold your bed linens and extra pillows (basically things relating to your bed), but nothing else should be underneath there. No books. No clothes. And to be honest, you should avoid keeping anything under your bed at all, if possible. Your chi energy needs room to freely flow, and if your chi gets trapped under your bed, it'll become restless, and give you restless energy = bad night sleep.
Let's back up a tad as to why I bought into this idea about not keeping things under your bed: Before we moved into our new home, we lived in a house with Nick's best friend, and so our bedroom space was very limited, so of course we had things underneath our bed, due to a lack of storage. Nevertheless, I noticed that once I moved in with Nick, I started sleeping terribly. I would wake up throughout the night. I felt restless. It wasn't pleasant.
And before you think it had something to do with "sleeping in a new environment" or "officially living with a man", I never had an issue staying asleep when Nick stayed at my house, or when I would spend the night at friend's houses, or anything like that... And those houses didn't have anything kept under the beds. So when I read that article, I said "Why not?", and cleared the storage boxes from underneath our bed before we moved, and put them into storage, and you know what - maybe it was a placebo effect, who knows? Who cares? I started sleeping like a baby through the night. It was amazing
That moment was enough to make me start paying attention to Feng Shui.
So when we finally had a place of our own, I started doing little Feng Shui things here and there, because I didn't want to scare Nick off with all my "hippie dippy" ways. He's very much so a "go with the flow" type of guy, and he let's me do a lot of strange things, but like I said, Feng Shui was new for me, and even a little out there for me. However, we have a rule in our house: if someone has a stronger opinion than me, then we will go with the stronger opinion (within reason).
To be honest, turning to Feng Shui for some of my decision making, took a lot of anxiety away from the #nesting process. I'm not talking lucky bamboo, money toads, and red strings everywhere. Actually, if you read anything the Feng Shui experts say, most of them will agree, that's not real Feng Shui. That's "trying too hard" Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about paying attention to items elements, colors, and how they all interact with one another. It's almost a science, really.
In my next non-house-remodeling post, we're going to dive deep into Feng Shui and the fundamentals, at least how I've understood them, but for now, I just wanted to give yall a backstory as to how I got into Feng Shui, so that the next post isn't totally out of left-field. Until then.
Sarah
#MeAndVinny
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