Inspiration and Minimalism

Sean has been working a lot lately while I've been at home, taking in the last days before school begins again. As much as I have wanted to just continue my business selling things and live off of that, Sean simply doesn't make enough on his own for us to afford this apartment. So we've decided that I should go back to work and have my business on the side for now. I had an interview at a retail store last Wednesday and I am hoping to hear back about it since it pays well and I think I would enjoy the environment.

School begins in a week and I am very much looking forward to it. This is Sean's last year and my last full year as I plan on graduating next December. I am not looking forward to all the papers and studying, but I will be glad to begin the year so I can sooner finish it.

I've been in a kind of rut lately with who I am and where I think things are going for me. Learning to ignore negativity and be better because of it is a hard lesson to learn, but I think I am getting there. I have found inspiration in a number of places including a blog called Les Jours Contents by Lisa Horan and I am finding her and her boyfriend's adventures to be something of an awakening for me. They're living Sean's and my dream of traveling the world and up until very recently, I had almost given up on that dream. I love Lisa's writing and the way she talks about their experiences everyday, even if she is sharing how they stayed indoors all day and watched movies together. It make me feel like I can write more and be happy with what I write. I feel like I can talk about things and not feel like I need to put on a show that isn't me in order to entertain. This, I am thankful for.
Another source of inspiration for me lately has come from my thoughts on leading a more minimal lifestyle. I have always loved the idea of living out my backpack, but I am far too sentimental to throw everything away. I've been spending a lot of my time at home rearranging and sorting through all of our things. Our front door is lined with bags upon bags and boxes of things we are selling or giving away, and since I went through everything, our apartment has felt so much clearer and spacious. I feel like my anxieties are slowly drifting away, and as soon as we get everything in order, I will be free.

Something that was very difficult to do was get rid my craft supplies. I now have about four boxes, containing about 90 percent of my supplies: stickers, scrapbooking paper, stamps, and all sorts of things to give away. I made the decision to get rid of them because one, they took up too much space, and two, despite how much a really loved and used them, I felt that relying on stickers and washi tape to decorate my journals, or whatever project, was cheating myself out of creating with my own talents. I feel like I need to rely more on drawing, writing, and pasting things I find than just making it look pretty with some stickers. 

I am trying very hard these days to get myself up and out of this place I've been for the two or three years. I know that I can be better and I will do everything I can to make sense of that. 

I found this on Pinterest and I think it is so true.

 Both of these photos below depict the mess in my craft/work space. It was kind of a feat to get everything picked through and organized, but I finally finished, for now.

After...

Slowly, things are coming together.

"It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite-- only a sense of existence." -Henry David Thoreau

Kaleigh