Can a Change-Up be Good Enough?

 

This is a post from guest contributor Saida Rashid of A Breath of Simplicity. Enjoy, and learn more about Saida at the end of this post.

 When we moved, I was adamant about getting rid of our four poster bed.It's a nice bed. There's nothing wrong with it. Still. I didn't want it in my new home. We were down-sizing and it didn't sit well with my journey in "less is more."The bed is BIG. You can never just flop down on it. It's too high. You have to climb onto it. By far, the biggest nuisance was having to clean the dust that gathered on top of the wood canopy.The final case in point: The master bedroom in our new home is a third of the size of our old room - I was convinced the bed would take up the entire room!I tried, really, really hard to sell the bed online, but there were no serious buyers. So I watched as it got dismantled, loaded onto the moving truck and transported to our new home.I relented, but in my mind it was a temporary arrangement.When my husband reassembled the bed, I requested that he omit the wood canopy. And now? It's been almost a year since we moved. We still have the bed and, what's more, I like it.Funnily enough, it doesn't occupy the whole room like I feared, and removing the canopy made a HUGE difference. The bed used to make me feel overwhelmed. It doesn't anymore. It's good enough, after all.A few years ago, I would have insisted on a new bed and donated the old one. And we'd be out of pocket a few hundred dollars. But life is full of opportunities for a change-up. I've come to recognise that I experience these moments quite frequently.It's not easy to 'fess up and it's unfortunate, but the truth is I have a tendency to fixate on things I feel I must have - sometimes the feeling is SO profound it interferes with my sense of inner peace.In the past couple of years I've been learning to wait rather than jump in at the deep end (i.e. spend money). The process of waiting has helped me recognise that new is NOT always better.When I make myself wait I'm more likely to try a change-up. This often leads to a moment of good enough. Sometimes I forget to wait, but I'm learning and getting better at it every day.I was recently convinced that I needed something for our kitchen sill. It looked SO bare. But I waited. Then I tried a change-up. The kitchen sill is now good enough and I didn't have to spend any money.The next time you feel the urge to spend money; try a change-up first.

• Think your kids need better toys? Try re-organising and displaying the toys you already have differently.• Think your kitchen is too small? Try de-cluttering and re-arranging your kitchen stuff.• Think you need a new bedside table? How about a coat of paint on that small coffee table sitting in the basement?

You get the picture.

I bet more often than not, you'll find that the stuff you already own is good enough.

You can check out Saida’s tips on simple living and learn about her journey towards eliminating processed foods on her blog abreathofsimplicity.com.

(Image courtesy of Allison)