Looking Out My Back Window #113

Originally posted on Facebook HERE

56 degrees out there. You can feel fall coming here in WI. Funny because it also feels like Summer just started yesterday. Man, how fast time flies. We bought our house in 2001. It probably could have used a kitchen remodel back then, but it’s a super confusing space, and from what we could tell talking to people over the years – an extremely costly job. So we put it off. Couldn’t really get a handle on exactly how we wanted everything configured. Had a few people come look at it, had discussions with others we never did manage to get with, but never found the right design that we could actually visualize until just recently. A friend or ours had met with a person who helped them design their remodel. They recommended him pretty enthusiastically, so we met with him as well. Pretty cool when you start working with someone who has one of those computer programs that allows you to actually see the changes. We spent quite a bit of time there, and came away with a plan. A plan that we could finally see, which is important here. For eighteen years we knew the kitchen was outdated, but if you can’t see where you’re going you’re probably not going anywhere. A choice to leave things as they are is still a choice. So, we took the plan to a contractor and got a quote to do the work. Good golly, miss Molly! Great google-moogly! Took three weeks to peel me off the ceiling. Remodeling can be expensive. So the plan went back to the “someday” shelf… except this time, we actually had a plan. We had a contractor. We had a price. We had the ability to make it happen, as painful as the cost and inconvenience of the project itself (moving everything, not having a kitchen for a couple months, etc.) were going to be. One day my wife Laurie pulled me aside and told me she thought we needed to finally do this. So, after some discussion on exactly how – plans are being made to get it done later this year. Why am I telling you all this?… because in our lives it’s not just our homes that get stale and outdated, sometimes it’s our way of thinking. Sometimes it’s our day to day activities. Once the kitchen is remodeled I have the feeling we’ll wonder why we didn’t do it years ago. Well, we didn’t have a plan. We didn’t have something we could get excited about. And therefore – no burning desire to change. But once the plan appeared, the Universe conspired to make it a reality. This is often how things work. Is there something in your life that needs updating? Are you unhappy with how you take care of yourself, your job, your relationship, your spirituality, or any other myriad of things? If we don’t periodically examine ourselves internally, we’ll never grow. Purple carpet in a kitchen is one thing – you can physically see that every day. Where are you holding purple carpet in your mind? Wherever it is, it will be hard to move forward until and unless you make a plan – a plan you can see and believe for yourself – then move forward in the direction of your dreams. You don’t have time to live with an outdated mindset. Fall is just around the corner…