challenge | Finding delight.

Hey guys! The other night I was clicking around on a few favorite bloggy-type sites (as ya do) and was struck by how many bloggers feature lists of cool things they want to do in the coming year or before they turn a certain age. What a great way to challenge yourself to mix it up. Plus, the added benefit of blogging = a)accountability, but also b)sweet content each time you check an item off the list!

Basically my blog was green with envy and I needed to hook her up with a list POST HASTE! But wait a minute, I thought to myself, we’re already 2.5 months into the new year and my birthday is FOREVER away. Can I really just put together a list like this on a random Tuesday??

Short answer: Yes. When you write the blog, you make the rules.

Long answer: I created this blog to encourage myself to keep looking for, and FINDING, delight. Actively searching for life’s unexpected pleasures is something I try to do on the daily. But making a list of things I expect to bring me joy works too. I don’t need to feel bad about not having an “occasion” to set myself up for delight. I can just make a list and start checking things off!

So here goes…

Visit the Miami Seaquarium – Planning to check this one off THIS week!
10 Day Ballet Challenge
Rent a Surrey Bike
24 Hour Digital Detox
Mini Near-to-Home Vacay/Stay-cay – Don’t need a day’s drive to justify renting an Airbnb for the weekend.
Take a MOOC – Totally left-field subject matter encouraged.
Go on a Boat Tour or Day Cruise – Zip past Miami mansions and watch the sunset over the skyline or BETTER YET…head to the Bahamas for the day.
Complete a Whole 30
Dine at a Posh Indian Restaurant
Finish a Loom Knit Project
Go Geocaching
Play a Super Involved Board Game
Plant an Herb Garden
30 Day Pilates Challenge
Make a 3-Layer Birthday Cake
Memoir Month – Challenge myself to read as many as possible before the calendar page turns.
Support the Performing Arts at FIU – A night at the theater or ballet? Yes, please!
Create a Piece of Art for Hanging
Visit a New City
Eat Conch Fritters – When in Rome!

I’m so excited to get started!

What’s on your “In Search Of: Delight” list? Do any of the items above strike your fancy? Which would you most like to see a blog post about? I’d love your thoughts!

Some of the happiest times in my life have been those periods when I was most unencumbered with STUFF. Living abroad, attending camp, traveling. Does anyone else feel this way? Any excuse to whittle down the daily necessities to the bare minimum just feels so reassuring to me. Decision making causes me a lot of anxiety. So, there’s immense comfort in knowing the less possessions you have the fewer decisions you have to make. If you only have one set of coffee cups, you use those coffee cups. Just 2 pairs of shoes? Guess what, it’s a coin toss. I think this is especially true for children. Kids get stressed too and I really believe that bombarding them with a bunch of toys causes just that–stress. In fact, I can strongly remember feeling tangible, physical relief when, at 10, my family moved to Vienna, Austria for the year and I just had…less. And my sister, who was 5, has mentioned feeling similarly. We were happy to have less so that we could live more. A philosophy I’ve tried, since drawing this connection time and time again, to actively adhere to.

A strong sense of calm comes over me when I can see all of someone’s belongings in one place, unobstructed. And it’s not just tiny homes. Many of my internet obsessions center around this idea of “less is more.” Capsule wardrobes, backpacking, ex-patriating. I’ve literally googled “a list of everything I own”…probably multiple times.

I fantasize about paring down my possessions to accommodate the tiny home lifestyle. I know I probably will never part with enough to live in a 8×10 home on wheels. But I hope I can continue on a simple living path. To waste less and buy used. To approach my purchases mindfully and treat the whole outdoors as my backyard. You can’t put a white picket fence around all of that. You CAN have an American Dream that involves having less. I love tiny homes because I can live vicariously through these people I see online who’ve achieved this version of the American Dream. I can ogle their homes and limited STUFF and vow to at least take lessons from the tiny home lifestyle.

For the next month, I will be putting a very simple simple-living rule into practice and letting y’all know how it goes.

One in. One out.

Meaning, for every thing I buy new I will give away or donate a similar item that I already have. If I buy a shirt, I must part with one. If I buy a book, I’ll pass one along to a friend I know would enjoy reading it more than I enjoy having shit on a shelf. I’m hoping this concrete rule will encourage considerate consumerism while allowing for some healthy decluttering. Yesterday I kicked off this challenge when I bought a drink dispenser (like this one. It’s for storing the spoils of my new adventures in cold brewing coffee at home…but more on that later) and a DOZEN mason jars. So, I got rid of a pitcher and a dozen cups…and then ended up throwing in 4 margarita glasses. Because who doesn’t want to have their margaritas in a mason jar? Heathens, that’s who!!!

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I’ll keep you updated as things progress this month. Have you ever done a challenge like this? Would you? Let me know in the comments below! And follow me on Instagram @BBerg1012 for future “One in. One out.” documentation. Accountability, y’all. Let’s do this!

(Tiny home photos via Apartment Therapy, Curbly, Tiny House Talk, and Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens. All fantastic resources if you, like me, want to waste hours looking at tiny homes on the internet.)