Work Archives - Intentional Home Life

When Life Gives You Lemons

30 June 2017 by Elisa Leave a Comment

Do you know the saying ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’? In this past week I didn’t publish anything on my blog. Nothing. I didn’t send out any emails either.

Because my internet went down for a week!

Lemons

NO INTERNET!! It was like being thrown back in time to the 1970’s!

I called up my internet provider and the earliest they could send an engineer wasn’t for days and days. Pretty rubbish I thought. And what on earth were we supposed do without internet for nearly a week?!! Because it also meant that our ‘Smart TV’ became pretty much useless without internet access.

But then I decided that instead of panicking and finding a way to get my posts published with no internet (bearing in mind, I only have a desktop computer, so a trip to a café wouldn’t have been feasible) – I decided to do something else entirely.

I chose to make lemonade out of lemons – so to speak.

Now, these “lemons” aren’t a big deal. They’re more of an inconvenience. They’re not the life-changing events in life. The tremendously awful things that alter your life forever. Those are something more than lemons – something closer to dung in my opinion. I’m not talking about dung here.

When I’ve still got a roof over my head. And my family still has food in their stomachs, an inconvenience such as no internet for a week is more like the sour tang of a lemon than the foul stench of a turd that lingers long after you’ve apparently tried to get rid of it.

Making lemonade

With no internet for some time, it seems God determined that the time had come for me to deal with some household tasks I’ve been putting off for ages. It was high time I decluttered the house.

My house had been drowning in clutter and mess for far too long – like since we moved in a year ago! And I was determined to use this “downtime” as a period for me to sort it out once and for all.

We took the week off homeschool so that I could get the house in shape. This was no big thing as it meant that, instead of finishing a week early, we’ll just finish school at the same time that other kids are finishing school for the year.

So I started with my bedroom, the most irritating room in the house for me and moved on to the kids room, then the dining room and the living room.

Before and after…

Although I started taking ‘before’ pictures, after I started clearing stuff out, I got so into it that I just kinda got rid of loads of stuff without bothering to stop and take anymore ‘before’ pictures!! And I turned into a bit of a whirlwind of organisation!

So here’s a look at how ghastly my bedroom was before and after….no joke!

The kids bedroom was ten times worse. And I fear that if I ever put any pictures on my blog of what it was like, I’d have the social services knocking down my door!

I have to say, that having only dealt with those rooms, the difference has been SO AMAZING!!

And yes, I still have to do the kitchen, the office, the dresser drawers in my bedroom and the cupboard under the stairs. But I have an overwhelming sense of relief now that most of the mess is gone. And I know that I can deal with the rest a bit at a time over the weekends and definitely when we finish school for the Summer.

I think I got rid of EIGHT BIN BAGS worth of stuff plus some furniture. Some of it was rubbish, some of it I’m giving away and most of it is getting sold at a car boot (thanks mum!!). Goodbye stuff. Good riddance. So long!

Lemonade is sweet

And now I have that giddy feeling that you get when you’ve suddenly lost a lot of weight and all your clothes look amazing on you! Yes, my house has lost A LOT OF WEIGHT!

So my Stone Age internet downtime turned into a weight loss session for my home and it feels pretty sweet.

This is not to say that I would want the internet to go down again. No lemons thanks – uh uh! {insert raised finger and sideways head movements here}

But I’m so glad I was kinda forced to do something else with my time.

When you get thrown a curve ball, how can you turn that into an opportunity to do something positive?

What I’ve Learned Through Blogging

8 March 2017 by Elisa Leave a Comment

Have you ever gone into a project with one expectation, only to have a whole host of new discoveries land in your lap? For me, I started blogging expecting to write a couple times a week. But I’ve found something quite unexpected!

Blogging has been a steep learning curve for me and I’m still learning a lot! But I’m so excited to be on this adventure. And the lessons I have been learning are helping me in many different ways.

Lesson #1: I love to write

I didn’t know that I would enjoy the process of writing (or typing) this much! I really enjoy getting my thoughts out of my head and in print. I’ve found that it helps me to process my thoughts, that I have more resolve and that I go through my days with more conviction and purpose.

To be honest, for this reason alone I think everyone should be either blogging or journaling! I’d read several times on the web that the greatest minds in history have kept journals and I can now see why!

Lesson #2: I’m an ambitious person

A side result of writing has been a huge increase in my goals. It seems like all of a sudden I feel that anything is possible! And it has opened my heart and mind to go after things that I didn’t have the courage to before or even know was possible.

Sometimes, these small steps of bravery can really bolster your faith. And like a steam train, once you get started, things started getting easier and suddenly you find yourself in a whole territory. I’m loving the fact that I’m making progress in areas where I’ve always felt like a continual failure – simply because my conviction and faith is stronger!

Lesson #3: I’m not a disciplined person

I think the number one way this has helped me has been the fact that I’ve had to deliver to a deadline. I’ve got to post articles. And I can’t do that every now and then. Or put up a string of articles and then disappear for a few weeks. I’ve got to be consistent.

That’s one of my hardest jobs. Primarily because I’m such an artsy fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl who is lead primarily by my emotions. Things tend to get done when I feel like it! But I’ve had to deal with that! And it’s not been easy! Blogging has really shed the light on how undisciplined I truly am! {Ugh!}

So although I enjoy writing, I don’t enjoy being held down by strict rules! So this one has been a real eye-opener for me and something I’m currently working on.

Lesson #4: I’ve got a lot of fear

I’ve realised that 90% of the time that I don’t sit down to write when I know I should is because I’m afraid. I’m not really afraid of what people might think. But I realised I was afraid of failing. Of falling flat on my face with the whole blog. And so it stopped me from even starting.

That crippling fear is a real enemy to someone doing things out of their comfort zone. And blogging really is outside my comfort zone in the sense that it’s a form of social media – and I’m naturally an internet hermit type!

The rough with the smooth

It seems that my whole life is being put under a microscope! Just from blogging!!

I think God tries to teach us lessons by the wayside. Although we make our plans, God determines our steps so that we are being continually shaped into the people he wants us to be. It’s been so helpful learning about myself in this way – both good and bad. And I’m sure I’m not done learning!

If we look closely enough, we can see the lessons we are being taught along the way. Take some time and reflect. What lesson are you learning?

Finding a Work-Life Balance

11 November 2016 by Elisa Leave a Comment

I’ve had several people ask me how to find a balance in their life between work and everything else. It seems that the demands of work are strenuous and exhausting. And what’s left of you at the end of the day is a tired shell of a person who’s not able to fully participate in other things because work has, as we say in London, ‘done you in’.

But It Can’t Be Helped

If you’re working outside the home, how can that be helped? You’ve got to work your hours and that’s that! End of story! Right?

Or perhaps you work from home. In which case, your work will suffer drastically if you don’t put in the 60 hours a week needed to keep it going. You’ve got to do everything yourself and you can’t delegate jobs to your unsuspecting three year old can you?

Or perhaps you’re trying to get a business off the ground but you feel like you’re constantly putting out fires with the children or you’ve got so many other obligations that you don’t have the time to invest in your work.

There’s absolutely no way you can give the same amount of your time and energy to all the different elements of your life. Not gonna happen!

Life Balance 101

But here’s the thing. Balance in your life is not about spending the same amount of time in the different areas of your life, but the RIGHT amount of time in those areas.

Balance requires you to take a step back and look at your priorities, then look at your week and allocate your time accordingly. It requires you to dig deep and ask “What are the most important things in my life?”. The things that will really matter in 5 years, 20 years, or eternity!

Try not to have too many priorities. Having twenty priorities is not reasonable because they actually won’t be equally important to you, although they might all be things you want to do. Like a spotlight, you can only shine on one object at a time. Having a few objects that you focus on will be better on the stage that is your life than if you constantly dart around! If your list feels long, try to rank your priorities giving each a different number. The top 3-5 things on that list are now your primary things.

The Reshuffle

Those primary things of yours are the first activities that should go into your week. Add the others (the secondary things) around them. Try not to cram your week full of activities. Your every waking moment shouldn’t have you going from one activity to the next. You need breathing space. Space where you can be still and reflect. Space where you are not committed to anything in particular. I call this ‘buffer space’. It’s so important. Don’t underestimate the value of this time! You can see how I schedule my time here.

Designing a week where you have a good work-life balance requires you to pause, take stock, and rearrange your priorities. It’s a process we should do regularly because our priorities change at different times of our life. If you’ve been feeling like you don’t have a good work-life balance, it may be that your top priorities are getting bumped to the bottom or left out completely.

Are there things in your life that you need to get back into the spotlight?