Our house is signed, sealed, and scheduled for delivery September 18th. The buyers agreed to raise the home price to cover the transfer taxes and fees, so the house will sell for $233,000. This morning I gratefully lowered all the shades and turned the AC up. We're dreading the electric bill next month...
As I left the house in comfortable disarray this morning I started thinking about perfectionism. The hardest thing about the last week was having to leave the house perfect every single day. No exceptions or exemptions. No lint on the carpets, no evidence any human sleeps in the beds, no dog hair, no dishes in the sink, no dog toys on the floor and no dog poop in the yard. I was in a box two sizes too small for my body. There was no slump room. Granted, after slumping for a week or more, the clutter and disarray depress me and drive me crazy. But in-between perfection and disorder there is a comfortable range where it feels ok to just LIVE.
A couple of my friends have shared their struggles with needing to be perfect all the time. I had trouble understanding the pressure they felt until this week. No wonder they feel anxious and depressed much of the time! I couldn't do it for one week and they've been trying to do this for 30+ years.
Interesting quote along those lines: "Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person."
--Dr. David M. Burns
All I can say right now is that I'm glad to let the walls fall down and begin to breathe again. The fear of not selling the house has gone and I'm more relieved than I can say.
10 comments:
Congratulations and praise the Lord!
Wow, that was fast. Good job. Imagine if you had to be perfect for a month!
By the way, I received your box of cleared clutter that you sent. Thank you, I actually may use a couple of items. Although I notice you sent me a few of the gifts that I've given you over the years. Tsk. Tsk.
But I forgive you. You're not perfect, and that's a good thing.
Yeah, thank God. We would have broken under the pressure...
What gifts? Really? And, hey, I want credit for the two very cool wooden toys/puzzles I sent for my niece!! And for Mom's down robe. Maybe I returned the gifts because I knew you would only give me something you really wanted yourself (like French soap)?
That was really fast. Congratulations!
Congratulations on the sale!!! It's a beautiful house (and a beautiful yard - wanna come do mine before you move???), and it just makes sense that it went so quickly.
Now kick off your shoes, relax, and let the clutter gather where it will. :)
CONGRATS! I am happy for you, but envious at the same time. The only reason my house is clean right now is that I am staying at a friend's house in Maine! There are 700 homes for sale in Liberty Twp, so the odds of ours selling in the next couple of weeks are nil. We miss the good old days of last year when our New Jersey house sold in 3 days...
Great news. I hate that perfection that has to come when people are viewing your house. We are starting the process of selling our house that is in the valley and we have a list a mile long of things to do, like paint, clean the carpet, repair this, cover that. Wow, the pressure begins, but we aren't living there so it will be easier. Life goes on thought, doesn't it?
Everything sounds like it worked out so well. Congrats!
Sadly, I wish we could live in that state of perfection all the time. However, my husband (and his MIL!) beg to differ. I suppose a happy medium between museum quality perfection and rat pack cluttered would be ideal.
Wow! That's awesome. Congratulations and Praise the Lord. As someone else said, I'm happy for you and envious at the same time. I'm just hoping and praying our house will soon be on the market and that God will send us the perfect buyers as He did you.
Thanks for the quote. You're taking Angie's place this week in kicking my butt! lol. I really needed to see/read/hear that.
Congratulations! I hated having to keep the house picture perfect. Every day we'd wake up, make the bed, sweep the floors, clean the dishes, burn candles, wipe down the counters.
I became OCD about it and it got annoying. I hated having strange people walking through your house, looking at everything, judging you for the furniture you had, or the paintings you had, or the way the house did or didn't look to them.
Thankfully I hope I'll never do that again!
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