The past few days in 31 Days to Love Your Home have been all about painting. For some reason, when it comes to paint, many people feel the same emotion....fear.
A few months ago, I decided it was time to change my dining room table. (I blogged about it before here.)
I had finally had enough. The table didn't match my style anymore, and it was time for a change. There is no sense being unhappy with something when it's in your power to change it.
In May, we found some great chairs at Goodwill. They were originally $5 a piece, but Shad asked if they would take $3. We paid $15 for 5 chairs!
Once I got the chairs home, I stuck them under my table, and lived with them for a couple of months. I loved the mismatched look, and I started searching for pictures of black tables with white chairs.
Excited for a change, I painted the four Goodwill chairs with no trouble, but then I got scared. Fear gripped me when it came time to paint this chair.
Why did I need to paint this chair? This wasn't a $3 Goodwill chair. This dining room chair was perfectly good. However, I didn't like it. It wasn't good for me anymore.
I tried to live with four white chairs and two black chairs for a few days, but I didn't like it.
Finally, I asked myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen?" Answer: I could absolutely hate the look and ruin two perfectly good chairs. Then I realized, I had four more chairs upstairs just like these.
What was stopping me? Why was I afraid?
With new resolve, I went for it, but I did gulp when I painted that first streak of white paint. After I painted the first chair, I realized I loved the look.
I painted a chair a day for about a week. By the time I was done, I was so sick of painting chairs, but it was worth it. Here is the table now. I love how much lighter it made the room!
Again, I just snapped this picture this morning so just ignore the giant furniture in the background and the toys on the floor.
This picture will forever and all time be one of my favorite pictures. I was terrified the weekend before I went skydiving. This wasn't just a "little nervous," I was nauseous every time I thought about skydiving.
I asked myself, "What's the worst that could happen," and I did not like that answer. When I got on the plane though, I made a big scary decision. I told myself, "What's going to happen is going to happen. I have to do this. I might as well smile and have fun while I'm doing it."
This picture, this moment is one of absolute joy for me. When I flew out that door, I let my fear fly with it, and I loved every second of it.
I'm so glad I didn't let fear stop me from doing something I really wanted to do. Next time you find yourself afraid of painting or making a bold decorating choice just ask yourself, "What is the worst that can happen?"
Are the home decor police going to come and arrest you if you make a bad color choice? No!
Will Home Depot ban you for life from picking another paint color? No!
Will your husband make fun of your bad color choice? Maybe!
Most of the time, the worst that can happen is you might have to repaint. So go ahead. Let your fear fly out the door and make the bold choice. Who knows? You might just love it.
Hi, Steph. I really enjoyed looking at your page and found it because of the skydiving. I am 67 years old and did a three-generation sky dive with my daughter (43) and granddaughter (18--it was a birthday gift to her) last year. It was my first (and so far only) time, as well. While I didn't have the same anxiety issues, I found the task of exiting the plane was fairly difficult. We were flying in a 4-seat Cessna (it could only take 2 pair of jumpers at a time) with the rear seats removed. We sat on the deck of the plane with my instructor straddled around me. When it came time for the jump, it was very difficult for me to swing my legs around and get out onto the wing strut, especially since I was coupled to another man and I have mobility issues due to poor circulation in my legs and being 30-40 pounds heavier than I should be. The part that I hadn't expected was the hurricane of wind that rearranged the skin on my face and the unexpectedly sudden deceleration when the instructor pulled the rip-cord. (Not being able to see behind me, it came as complete surprise.) The rest of the fall was amazing! With no feeling of falling, it seemed as if I were a soaring bird. We landed in a seated position with my legs out in front of me with no discomfort whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about making another tandem jump but this time I want to do it in a plane from which I can exit standing up. Browsing through some skydiving images, I noticed the photo o n your page and came to have a look. Can you tell me what kind of plane it was (or the name of the jump service so that I can check with them)?
Thanks in advance. I'd really enjoy hearing more about your experience, as well. My email address is below.
Best wishes,
Roger. roger.curry@comcast.net
Great reaading your post
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