Tis the season for Holiday Home Tours! I’m so excited to be sharing my house all decorated for christmas with you tomorrow, and to be apart of this fabulous group of talented ladies all sharing their homes with you as well.
However, if we aren’t careful sometimes our inspiration turns into comparison, and we can loose our joy. I believe it happens to all of us at some point. We love to be inspired, but if we look too long, or linger past the point of inspiration, we can sometimes find ourselves in a trap of discontentment and discouraged in our own efforts to spread holiday cheer. I would be lying if I told you this doesn’t happen to me. I am no stranger to those feelings, and have struggled before with feeling over whelmed by the bombardment of beautiful homes decorated picture perfect for the holidays. Because I’m no stranger to it, I have learned to recognize it quicker when it tries to set in. I even felt this way just last week. I got caught up in looking at beautiful home tour after beautiful home tour, and started feeling inadequate not wanting to post mine because they had better decorations, and I didn’t decorate that way, should I decorate that way for my post?! All very real thoughts swirling around in my head. And I’m not just saying they were beautiful, these women are truly talented, and their homes were just stunning. But when my appreciation turned into feeling inadequate, it was time to take a step back. For those who aren’t familiar with my story, I’ve shared it here before, and will be sharing more of it on here soon, but for a long time I was stuck in a trap of not feeling good enough, and that effected me in almost every area of my life. Now I’m not saying that anyone of these women posted their christmas tour with the intent to make us feel that our homes aren’t decorated pretty enough. Not at all! I know for a fact, they did it with love and kindness, and a whole heap of hard work, to provide us with breathtaking inspiration! What I want to make sure is, as we soak in all this season has to offer, lets not let the seed of comparison steal our joy. Lets not let our appreciation and applause for a beautifully decorated home turn into discontentment or feeling inadequate.
This is on POINT! It’s easy to get swept away with who we’re not and what we don’t have, and miss who we are and what we do have! I am so thankful that God only makes originals, and I am so thankful for your beautiful message of hope to us! Thank you for encouraging me to be the best me ever- and not someone else 🙂
So true.. Its human nature to sometimes feel like that.. I was feeling quite inadequate myself so its nice to hear I am not alone.. we are too hard on ourselves every home is beautiful in its own way. And yours most certainly is! 🙂 Happy Holidays!
~Lisa
I believe this is something we ALL feel at some point or another, no matter the size of our homes or our decorating talents. I have learned how to reign it in over the past few years, but it still rises up every once in a while. Comparison is the thief of joy. Truer words have never been spoken. Today was my last home tour day, so I am stepping back for the rest of the year and focusing on my family for Christmas! I hope everyone else does the same! Merry Christmas to you! And, honestly, even though we sometimes feel lacking on occasion I STILL love seeing everyone’s houses all decked out for Christmas! 🙂
I am so very proud of you Bre! Love you to bits!!
This was very sweet. I often struggle with those feelings, and it is so good to know that other women, especially extremely talented ones, have the same struggle.
Thank you.
Well put and so true. I love all the home tours, but can find it overwhelming and discouraging so i take them in small doses.
Very well said. Thank you for opening up your heart, and speaking the truth I’m sure this post is going to resonate to many as it did me.
Such an important message. I don’t think of it that way because I have such a passion for decorating and seeing beautiful homes. But I do have friends that get frustrated and confused by these beautifully decorated and photographed homes.