Lessons from bowels of my kitchen rennovation

No truer words were ever spoken over me.

This cute little sign now hangs in my new kitchen. You've been waiting for this, so thank you for your patience. I don't need to give you a play by play of my recent kitchen renovation project but you can know that I'm still licking my self-made wounds over this little project.

The main thing is our kitchen is still standing, it's complete, and we are all alive.  Here are a few things I learned while living in transition and a big mess:

1.  Change requires a lot of time.  Every waking moment.
2.  It requires energy.  Every ounce of you have.
3.  It requires hard work.  Every drop of blood, sweat and even a few tears.
4.  It requires team work.  Everyone doing what they can to work together.
5.  It requires you to show up.  Bring your winning attitude and check your ego at the door.

Unless, you are financially stable enough to afford someone else's labor, you can kiss about 6 weeks of your time, that you will never get back, good-bye when you say that you want to change a few things in your kitchen.  A few more lessons:

1.  Say good-bye to clean.
2.  Say hello to sea tickle blue on your fingernails.
3.  Tuck your regular to-do list away for a rainy day.  
4.  Say good-bye to your friends and Friday nights.
5.  Learn the international symbol for "I can't breathe".  Repeat, breathe deep.

That sinking feeling when seeing your stove like this, good-bye all clean spaces.

Unless, you are a saint, or can do perfect and do things right the first time, remember there will be some frustrations along the way that will cause you to run outside your house and scream a little.  Here are some good things to remember in the middle of a mess:

1.  Remember the end result will be worth it.
2.  Remind yourself who you are doing it for.
3.  Forget the words that are spoken at the end of a moving drill bit.
4.  Clean a little space everyday, even if it's just your coffeemaker.
5.  Practice kindness and bite your tongue.

Making changes can be hard, especially when you encounter some unexpected bumps along the way.  Things usually don't work out like you had planned or expected.  But a good attitude helps win over the worst flub-ups.  Mistakes can always be covered up or corrected if you just refocus and get some rest.

Ta-Da!  My like-new place to steam my broccoli and make my coffee!

One thing remains, change is hard but worth it.  There were days I didn't know what to do but cry.  But in and through all of the changes to my new kitchen, I rose above the challenge of what was ahead of me and just did the next thing.  It was hard work, and seemed intense, but I had too much invested in it to give up on it.  

Perseverance, patience and endurance pays off.  I now have a clean kitchen and am proud of the work that was accomplished.  Our family worked together as a team, and had much patience with each other.  We did the next thing and did it with kindness.  We worked together for a common goal of a now clean, uncluttered, tidy, shiny and like-new space.

We made some small adjustments along the way to accommodate the few problems we had but we rose above the challenges and just kept the momentum going, working forward instead of letting ourselves get overwhelmed.

We had a vision, a dream, a goal worth pursuing and we did it!  High fives everyone!  Why is this so important to me?

1.  It's my place in this house, everyone woman can testify that the kitchen is her space.
2.  I end my day with a shiny sink, smiling good night and sweet dreams.  
3.  Each day begins clean.  I want clean to remain.  
4.  I worked hard toward a goal and lived through it to now enjoy it.
5.  I not only survived a kitchen re-model, now I'm writing stories to share, all from my new kitchen.

(Bonus - No one was killed in the process.  I know that was a little dramatic but sometimes in the heat of the battle, you have to remember who's idea it was to start such havoc in the first place.)

As we make changes, we grow.  As we work towards a goal, we change.  We adapt, we get better at what our hands touch.  We learn, we stretch, we do hard things, we do new things.  We chose to overcome the hurdles and just work through them.

We choose victory and the end result is always worth it.  Results take work and determination.  Results take practice.  

Special emphasis on the large print.

Practice.  Over and over, day by day, with time you will get to your goals too.  Whether it be 10 lbs, 10 blogs, 10 books, 10 miles, whatever personal goals are haunting you on repeat right now, just bite your tongue and practice doing them.  You won't be sorry if you honestly show up with your winning attitude and check your ego at the door.   

Choose to overcome.  Rise above what's telling you can't succeed.  Practice.