Being Authentic vs. Being Perfect + Storage Inspiration

Today over on Christy Tomlinson's blog she writes a wonderful column about what it means to be authentic, and what you have to gain by letting others, whether it's your spouse, your friends, or your readers, get to know the REAL you.  I  hope you'll click over and read the rest, bc it's full of the kind of messages I can never get enough of.  But this part in particular stood out for me:

...and remember that being authentic means NOT having to be perfect and not having to live up to others expectations.. but just BEING WHO YOU ARE and being okay with that. YOU are enough. Sometimes we try so hard to be someone we aren't. We want to be the perfect mom, or the perfect friend, or the perfect wife. Guess what? NO one is perfect and guess what else?  Your family only WANTS you..it's the same with your friends, your work, your community. They want what YOU have to offer them. THEY NEED what you have to offer them. We all do. We all need each others true selves.  You know the other cool thing about being authentic and sharing yourself.. is that when you do.. you will get that back in return.. again and again and again.   What a beautiful concept.. a beautiful relationship to have with others.. INCLUDING yourself

It goes right along with what I've been facing in my personal life right now, and I must say that it is so refreshing to just be me and let whatever happens happen.  I hope you can do that today too :)  I've spent so many hours wondering and worrying about how imperfect I am and it hasn't helped a single situation, so I'm trying a new attitude.

My massive overhaul of my craft room is still ongoing.  I found sooo much stuff that needed to be thrown away, like paint bottles from about 2001 that I've carted from apartment to apartment to house, etc.  I highly recommend going through your supplies, pulling out the stuff waaaay in the back, and making sure it's still useful.

The other situation, I've come to realize, is that my supplies were so scattered that I've ended up buying multiples of things I didn't know I already had.  (Seriously, I found 8 sheets of dark brown felt...8!!  What did I plan on making??)  I've come up with a storage plan, mainly inspired by this post over on Make It Homey.

This photo was posted by Sandi Sharp for her article entitled "Toy Armoire."

My idea is to put a small bookshelf in my armoire, adding more storage space to this HUGE and unused piece of furniture.  When we moved into our house, we used a professional moving company and they somehow managed to get this enormous piece of furniture into the tiniest room of the house, and it will remain there forever more.  (Also, there's a sofa in another room that's the same way, we have tried everything but bacon grease to get the ugly thing out to no avail.)  I was going to use the armoire as craft supplies storage then, but it became a dumping ground instead.  We're now changing that room into a bedroom for our son, and we decided that if we let him use the armoire for toy storage (like Mrs. Sharp did) my son would literally rip the doors off the hinges because he likes to "swing" on doorknobs.  So he gets the closet and I'm taking back my armoire from the Clutter Monster who moved in when we weren't looking.