Lighten Up Already

Today I am linking up with Jill Savage and Hearts at Home for Third Thursday Thoughts. As usual, the topic is quite fitting: Unleash Your Power to Lighten Up. 

Laughter truly is good medicine. 

I try not to take myself too seriously, but I like to do things BIG. I don't usually make small adjustments... Case in point, why make budget cuts to be debt free when you could sell your house and build a tiny house instead? So when it (fill in the blank: plan, event, outing, agenda, party, etc.) fails or doesn't go the way I had envisioned, I have a hard time recovering. The whole, "you'll look back at this later and laugh" thing takes a while...usually years. Life can be pretty bleak when you don't see the humor in the everyday and that's where I've been the last month. 

I'm having trouble finding the joy in this middle part of the process. The reality of our decision has set in and the hard part has started. The part where we don't have a home of our own and are living with friends until we finish building the tiny house. For the first time in my life I am uncomfortable. I don't like sharing. I am OCD. I am very particular. I haven't wanted to write about this part because there's nothing inspirational about it and it just really isn't pretty. These tendencies were easily concealed when it was just the three of us, but having a shared living space opens your eyes to your own habits and forces you to confront them on a daily basis.

I had a moment of clarity last week when I realized I could continue to feel sorry for myself or I could choose to find the humor in our current situation. Can we all take a moment and laugh at these things?

We are going to cram four people and a dog into 250 square feet. 

I used to have a closet that was more square footage than our new master loft. 

When people ask if the nursery is ready for baby #2, I silently think to myself, "If setting up a pack-n-play at the end of my bed counts, then yes."

Our whole house could be teepeed with one roll of toilet paper. 

Finn will potty train on a composting toilet. 

Those cute Pinterest ideas about filling your child's room with balloons for their birthday? We could do that with five balloons. 

Our new couch is the same size as our previous ottoman. 

A tour of our house will take less than three minutes. 

I am choosing to find the humor in this crazy journey we are on because I believe God has a sense of humor. I believe He knew this plan long before we did and knew it would be incredibly difficult, but that it would draw us closer to Him and unite us as a family. I believe He is with us in this and wants us to laugh at our mistakes, find joy in the process, and rely on Him for the strength to make it through. 

Whatever your circumstances are today, I hope you can take a moment to laugh. It is good for the soul.