—video transcript—

I’m here in my recently renovated kitchen. There’s a new marble top eat-in kitchen table behind me and some groovy velvet chairs. New decor on the hutch I could tell you all about. Obviously there’s some fun wallpaper going on. What you can’t see very well anyway is that we updated the countertops and backsplash and did cabinet refacing in here. We have lived in this house at the time of the update 16 and a half years. For a good long while the decor in here was cute. It was just fine. And then we hit a season where it was missing the mark. It needed to be refreshed, and we had never gotten around to it for various reasons. Even after we started feeling that need for a refresh. A big part of it was that I really enjoy this kind of thing, and I didn’t have the time I wanted to spare and the mental energy I wanted to spare to really get creative and clear and be able to focus. And I finally got to that season of time.

I’m mentioning all this because it ties into a really interestingly effective coaching tool that I have in my coaching toolbox that I wanted to share. It’s called the Living Space Assessment. Play along with me, if you will.

I want you to think of perhaps your entire home or a specific area in your home that comes to mind, that pops up when you’re thinking of something that might dissatisfy you or delight you. I want you to think about that space and describe it. Get detailed in how you describe it, how you feel in that space when you’re in that space. If it’s dissatisfying to you, do you feel that it’s cramped or cluttered or out of date in terms of decor? Or is it poorly used space you would like to redefine how it’s used? If it delights you, what about it delights you? Does it have really fun accents that reflect who you are? Is the lighting really good? Is it unique to your home? And you know, it’s a great place to go sit and think and read or watch a little TV with your loved ones?

Describe that space and then invite those details that you’ve identified to be reflective of what’s going on in your life.

For me, as I look at this home, as I described, this kitchen space for the longest time was good. Like when I first bought this home, there was granite on the countertops, and I could tell the cabinets were the original — the home was built in 1984 — but they had been painted white and the hardware had been updated. And it looked fresh and cute. But that was a long time ago. And over time, getting a sense of what’s more current and what’s more appealing to me in this season, I knew this space didn’t quite fit. Part of why I didn’t update beyond, as I mentioned, much of that time not having the energy or mental space to get into a refresh. I also was quietly concerned about what’s next. Like if we tried to sell this place, would my choices that may not be my most favorite work for whoever would buy this house from us? So in my life assessment attuned to the living space, I realized I needed to make decisions for us, for me and my husband, for what we like, what sparks us and proceed accordingly regardless of the fact that we may sell this place one day.

And once I cleared that space and acknowledged I was existing in this space on the ‘what if’ I felt so liberated to just go for it and do the bold stripe wallpaper and get new stuff for my hutch and go for the marble top table that could stain, but we’re grownups and we have place mats. Why not? And go for a cool color on the chairs and just really make this space joyful for us in this moment. And if you’ve followed me for any time, you know, I usually record up in — I have a little office upstairs that also has always made me happy since I updated it like eight years ago. But I wanted to be down here ’cause now I’m using this space so much more. The delight I found in updating the kitchen carried overto our — We have a larger dining table now and — spruce up our living space that’s over this direction. That’s why I’m pointing that way.

So I have more spaces to work. My husband and I have more spaces where we just wanna hang out, and what a reflection of what’s going on in our lives in this season!

So the living space assessment: Picking a space in your home, identifying what doesn’t please you or does please you, and then really tuning into what that says about you and your life. I invite you to take part in that. And I’d love to hear feedback on what it reveals to you.

If you find yourself cluttered or stagnant or not able to even know what might spark some happiness for you in a space, I’m always here and honored and ready to help coach you to a place of better understanding of yourself so that you can move forward in life.

Thanks for being here.