After several months of off and on remodeling, 99.9% of the work is finished. This weekend I’m focused on deep cleaning, rehanging artwork and photographs, once more displaying items that I love and, since it’s the season, decorating for the holidays.
Although I got a start on it all today, I didn’t make quite as much progress as I’d planned. I got sidetracked when pulling everything out of the room of doom storage room. First it all needed a good dusting, and cleaning. During the process, I found myself carefully considering each piece. Was it something I wanted to display again? Did I like it as much as I once did? Was it just something that I’d accumulated at some point and its importance had diminished over the years, or did it still hold value in my life?
As I progressed, I realized that I was making thoughtful decisions about what to keep and what to discard. My choices weren’t based solely on beauty or monetary assessment. The things I keep have value to me. They please my eyes, cause me to smile, bring to mind a good memory, or show me the smiling faces of people I love. Some are pieces familiar to me since childhood. Some are mementos of more recent experiences. They all have a place in my home and in my life.
The whole process is sort of a metaphor. There are old habits, ways of thinking, ways of behaving, and even attitudes that hold no value for me. They must have once had purpose, but ultimately they contributed to an unhealthy eating disorder and super obesity. I’ve worked hard on shedding them in the last almost three years. Like the excessive pounds that I carried on my body, I’ve needed to work them away.
Like today’s activities were all about putting my house in order, my efforts on my eating disorder, my weight loss, my physical fitness, are about putting myself in order. I’m determined to keep only the behaviors, habits, thoughts and attitudes that are valuable to me.
Weighty Matters 
We need some house photos!