Inspiration vs. Invigoration

Early this year, Holly Becker of decor8 made an interesting distinction between inspiration and invigoration.  In her Resolve to Be Happy post, she said "Inspiring is nice; but invigorating is a call to action."  

Her point is that inspiration sometimes doesn't go anywhere.  We see something we like and don't do anything about it, for one reason or another.  But once you act on your inspiration, that creates the energy that feeds on itself and invigorates you. 

January is a good time to get invigorated, between the start of a new year and lots of indoor time to think and plan and organize.  You could go big time and look at your life.  Maybe there's some aspect of it that you feel needs a little inspiration and invigoration.  

What Color is Your Parachute for Retirement? is an easy way to get started.  It looks like a retirement book, but I think it's relevant at any stage of your life.  In an easy-to-read style, with sufficient depth to be rewarding, it helps you analyze and plan for the six main areas of your life: social, psychological, biological, medical, financial, and geographic.

Maybe you'd rather start smaller and just focus on your home.  Today just happens to be National Organize Your Home Day.   The current issue of Better Homes and Gardens is all about that.  I'm always attracted to these magazines for their inspirational photos, but I don't find them really helpful in the long run.

THIS, on the other hand, is helpful.  Peter Walsh has written several books on organizing, but even he admits that It's All Too Much is his favorite.  I like this book because it's not preachy; it's friendly and doesn't make you feel guilty.  I think the main reason it's so successful is because it addresses the underlying psychological reasons of why we keep so much stuff.  

There's an abundance of practical advice, walking you step-by-step, and room-by-room on your journey to pare down and organize your possessions.  The big payoff at the end, as he stresses, is the sense of relief and freedom, of invigoration.  It's a quick read because it's so fascinating.  I just talked myself into rereading it.

Maybe you don't want to organize your whole house.  You're in luck.  Today is also National Clean Off Your Desk Day, so you can start small.

I did that this weekend.  I cleaned off my desk, added a new knob, and paired it with a different chair from elsewhere in the house.  Now I love sitting down here and find myself actually using it to get things done, instead of just thinking about doing things.

Putting my pens in these jars felt invigorating.  Might as well get some practical use out of my antiquing treasures.

This 1950s lazy susan was a recent find at an antique store.  It was another component of organizing my desk.

For a good combination of inspiration followed by immediate invigoration, you can't beat HGTV's FreeStyle.  Designers work with homeowners to redo rooms without spending any money.  They rearrange what the homeowner has, edit out what isn't needed, and pull things in from other rooms.  (You can find old episodes on YouTube.)

I love doing that.  When you last saw this high chair, it was being used by the pigs in Teamwork to get food out of their kitchen.  Now it's a mini-bookshelf, sitting next to my newly decluttered desk.