I've discovered two very important pieces of information about myself in the past year or so.
1) I am an introvert.
2) I am a minimalist.
Explanation:
1) I am a social introvert. The part of the definition about being an introvert that applies to me is the fact that I need to be alone to recharge my energy. Alone and in silence. I love meeting people and hanging out with friends, but when I've had my fill of that, I need to go into my cave and bask in peace. This, of course, has been difficult since having children. But, the older they get the better they get at basking in their own peace: in front of the TV. So, yeah, let me recharge from your presence, and I'll love you so much more. Later. When I'm done being alone.
2) I slapped on my official "minimalist" label when I decided to embrace the capsule wardrobe. One day, I was listening to a podcast interviewing the blogger of Un-Fancy while I painted my bedroom closet. The blogger was admonishing me to take out all of the clothes from my closet, examine everything, and pare it down to 37 pieces to mix and match for three months at a time. The idea is to change out pieces with the four seasons, but for three months at a time, you work with the same 37 pieces and don't shop at all until right before the season changes. Every item of clothing I own happened to be out of my closet right at that moment so I started right then and there, got it down to 40 and decided to stay. I won't go into all the details of the capsule wardrobe, but suffice it to say, it was a revelatory moment in the history of Marthdom. And it made me understand why I am often overwhelmed by things like large houses, choosing clothes, doing my hair, decorating for the holidays, buying toys for my kids, shopping at Costco, too many pillows on a couch, too many things in general. It's because I am a minimalist. I don't like having more hair than I need (although I've decided to grow my hair for one more year...just to force myself to resist taking the easy route). I don't like food storage (what's a Mormon to do?). I can't buy holiday decorations because I have a hard time with the fact that they won't be useful for the majority of the year, or worse, I'll just throw them out. I have a hard time choosing toys for my kids because I dread the idea that they'll never play with them and I'll have wasted money and space. I have a difficult time watching professional decorators stuff homes full of beautiful things. I feel much better looking at spaces that lean toward the spare side of the decorating spectrum.
What a relief! Now if only I could figure out what color my aura is?!
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