Gratefulness, joy, contentment, and peacefulness have been on my mind a lot lately. As I work on this blog, I am trying to make it into a side job for me, but I don’t ever want money to be the chief aim of this space. I want to encourage others to live a contented life, to be grateful for the roof over their head, to have joy in managing their health, and to let peace reign in all areas of their lives.
Encouragement to others is my main goal. I haven’t lived the most years, but I’ve learned a few things in the years I’ve lived. I would love to share any wisdom I’ve learned with anyone reading this blog.
One area I’ve been cultivating in my life is gratefulness.
Confession: I am a perpetual home shopper. I keep tabs on the local real estate market and tend to know every house available in a 5 miles radius. While this doesn’t necessarily make me ungrateful or envious, it does distract my attention from my own home. If I’m looking at other homes, I am, by default, not looking at mine. Could that energy be better spent elsewhere?
The last month or so, I’ve been working to look at my house differently. What do I love about MY home? What are good functions in my house? Are there small benefits I overlook daily? What is so GREAT about this house?
This exercise birthed a thought in my mind. If I challenge myself to publicly share what I love or am grateful for in my house, I could encourage others to live more content with their house. I could inspire some to see the silver lining in their home.
That is my goal. I hope you are inspired and encouraged.
Today I am grateful for wide stairwells in my house.
I notice every time I walk down the stairs from upstairs to the main floor. The painting we did on the walls and trim when we moved in help accentuate the width. The stairs going up at 42″ wide. By contrast, the stairwell to the basement is 36″ so the difference is noticeable as I move about the house.
After a quick Google search it looks like standard width is 36″. The stairs to our basement are standard, and I can attest to them being more difficult to move people and things up and down without banging the wall.
At the bottom of the stairs, the width is 43.5″, and to me, the extra 1.5″ is noticeable.
Why do I love this about my house?
- It leaves room for many bodies, stuffies, and blankies going up and down the stairs. This is an every day occurrence in our house.
- It makes carrying large loads of laundry up and down the stairs easier – no bumping the wall with the laundry basket!
- It makes for easier moving of furniture up and down the stairs.
- It allows for more light in the stairwell. The more light the better in my book!
I know this is a very small detail in our house. In fact, my hubby thinks I’m a little odd for even noticing.
I think gratefulness in the small details of our lives are what creates peace and contentment with the larger things. Why am I content to live in this house? Well, wide stairwells is one reason.
What small functions of your house do you love? Do you have an architectural detail that you are so grateful the contractors thought to put into your home?