When all you want is peace...

I must have bumped my head 10 times this weekend.

On the same light fixture.

Walking around what used to be our dining room with my eyes fixed to my phone, trying to manage a steady stream of Facebook Marketplace messages.

By the third time it happened, my daughter Maggie just stared at me.

Mom. What is wrong with you? Can you just look up?!

And then we both completely lost it.

Sitting there in an empty room, laughing until we almost cried, just one of many surprisingly hilarious moments during a task I had not only been dreading but actively avoiding for almost three years now, ever since we moved to our farmhouse in the country.

Because when we moved, we didn’t fully move out of our old house.

That was the plan, of course. We wanted to settle in to the new place, then clear out the remaining stuff in the attic and the garage, the furniture that no longer worked in the new place, and then get the house on the market.

Except we didn’t.

At first we were too busy trying to settle in. And then it was the holidays. And then the interest rates skyrocketed and it seemed like a bad time to sell. And then. And then. And then.

But this year my husband Chuck and I are determined to finally deal with all those personal finance tasks we’re both so good at ignoring–all that boring adult stuff we both hate dealing with that just ends up hanging over us like a cloud.

So far this year we’ve tackled appealing our property tax assessment, which was an arduous months-long process and straightening out our insurance. I also bought a Nokbox, with the intention of getting all our most important paperwork organized and filed in one place.

But the biggest thing was dealing with the house we no longer live in.

After going back and forth for months on what to do, we finally decided to rent it.

And now, with a new tenant moving in on May first, we had no choice but to finally make some decisions about all the stuff we left behind.

Which is how, after a crazy work week, Maggie and I ended up spending our Friday night together in a mostly empty house selling random things (including many packages of non-septic friendly toilet paper) to random strangers on the internet.

And despite repeatedly whacking my head, it was actually the highlight of my week.

Because the truth is that there were a million reasons to feel completely overwhelmed this past week.

At home, we’ve got dogs and teenagers and a few too many projects to keep track of and out-of-town guests to prepare for this coming week.

At work, it was launch week for my new program, Home Systems Made Simple. I hosted three live workshops. I had coaching calls, meetings, deadlines, and a very important contract to sign.

And then there’s all the stuff I didn’t get to. The stuff I had to skip or just let slide.

And the irony wasn’t lost on me that despite all this chaos, the workshop I hosted live three separate times this past week (and that I’m hosting again one more time tomorrow) is called The Peaceful Home.

Because what I’ve realized is that peace isn’t really about having everything magically under control, and it’s not something that shows up once everything is finally handled.

It’s something you have to choose. It’s a state of mind.

My friend Rachel always says, “You can choose to feel stressed, or you can choose to feel blessed — but you can’t feel both.” Along those same lines, someone else wisely said “Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”

In other words? Peace isn’t a destination. It’s a choice you make in the middle of the mess.

I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking about what I actually want my life to feel like, and the word that keeps coming up, over and over, is peace. Peace at home. Peace in my business. Peace in my life.

Over the past few months, I feel like I’ve been taking a lot of steps in the right direction. I’ve made big decisions. I see progress happening.

But this week I actually felt it. Or rather, I chose to feel it.

And that’s my challenge for you this week too. Regardless of all the things on your plate right now—and I’m guessing it’s a lot—pay attention to where your focus is going. The stress and the good stuff always exist side by side. The peace and the chaos. The beauty and the mess.

Which one will you focus on?

Live with purpose, friend, and have a wonderful week!

xoxo, Ruth

P.S. I’d love to know—what’s one thing in your life right now that could feel stressful, but you’re choosing to see differently? Hit reply and tell me, or leave a comment below!

P.P.S. If you didn’t catch my live workshop last week, The Peaceful Home, I’m hosting one more live session tomorrow at 12pm ET. It’s free to join–just register HERE.

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