Inspiration

Carpe Diem!

Hello Dear Readers,

 

I had a conversation with my sister-in-law the other day about internet blogs, especially mommy blogs and celebrity blogs.   She was telling me how unrealistic and picture perfect those blogs are and how she could not connect with them. 

 

Let me say first that blogging is an anomaly in my family.  Nobody blogs or reads internet blogs and they laugh at my hobby which I don't keep secret but which I don't really talk about with them either. 

 

But to me, reading blogs and then embarking in the world of blogging has changed me tremendously.  It helped me better myself, reminded me of being kind and patient with my kids, of being grateful for the things I have and above all, inspired me to beautify my life with the means I have.

 

I totally understand that the reality of other bloggers is not my reality as we all have a different life.  But I am INSPIRED by them.  I think we all feel drawn to perfection and beauty so it's natural to aim for these things!  Reading blogs makes me dream and wishful and it also makes me create and ultimately bring benefits to myself and my family.

 

My life is not perfect and has never been.  Far from it.

 

I grew up in a very poor family.  What you could call dirt poor.  We got even poorer when tragedy struck and we were left with nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, but the clothes we were wearing.  We spend months living in slums, with barely enough food to survive, with the fear of sickness and being killed.  But we made it out of there.  My parents worked so hard to get us back to a normal living. 

 

My home was ugly.   There were no such things you could call "pretty" because all we had came directly from the garbage cans or from donations. Our dinner ware was chipped and mismatched.   My clothes were either hand-made or donated and they were always frumpy or too big.  But we had plenty of love.  And my mom made everything as pretty as she could with the means she had.  And thanks to her, we forgot the holes in the walls and the leaking faucet, the old clothes and chipped plates.  We lived in a Home Sweet Home, as pretty and cozy as you could get.

 

 

She would always be an inspiration to me.  She created lampshades with papier mâché and tea cozy with bits of left over fabrics.  She invented recipes to work with the ingredients she could find and cooked delicious meals only mothers could cook!  She was always crafting or improvising with the little she had to transform our tiny flat into a comfortable haven.

 

 

Nowadays, I live in much better conditions, but my apartment is far from being pretty.  My neighborhood is not an upscale one and the buildings are all decrepit and old.  But some of my neighbors, they tend to their garden, they sweep daily the dead leaves and they decorate for each holiday!  They make and effort to beautify their living space and that makes a huge difference!  The neighborhood is transformed thanks to their willingness to change their environment.

 

 

In the same way, I try to make my home a better place to live and reading blogs inspire me to do so.  Little by little, gradually and within my means, I make it happen.  So I think blogging is really useful!  It depends on how you use the knowledge you are getting.  I say: make it a positive experience :)  Reach for higher!  Even in the most arid deserts, beautiful flowers can bloom :)

 

Cactus Flowers

 

P.S. All the pictures above are shots I took (with ONE hand while the other hand was holding baby) during my morning walk in my neighborhood each weekend (well except for the peonies which was taken in my home).  Baby's hand is actually shown in the first picture :)