We got new front doors!

And I wanted to write a blog post about it. Instead of simply sitting down and writing We got new front doors! – I got a great idea. I thought it would be really clever to kick it off with an inspirational quote about doors.

So I spent about 20 minutes googling “inspirational door quotes.” Then one thing led to another and I ended up reading most of the Wikipedia entry about her so now I’m “a bit of an expert” (you have to read that part with a British accent like Peppa Pig’s dad). 

Now I’m a bit of an expert on … Helen Keller!

HUH?

Like seriously. What in the actual heck?

I don’t know either, friends. That’s just how my brain works.

How can I go from new front doors to Daddy Pig to Helen Keller in 10 seconds? (I didn’t even mention the quick side trip down a few lines of Rumi’s poetry in the middle of all of that.)

Resistance — that’s how.

Resistance is real. And it is strong in me today.

It will have you falling down Google rabbit holes and staring out the window at the birds all day long instead of doing your work. Helen Keller is a very interesting person, but I’m not actually an expert on her. And I am not writing about her today.

I’m writing about this:  We got new front doors!

Here they are!

And here’s a photo of the old front doors for reference.

And you can’t see it from here, but the welcome mat is covered in pumpkins. I never bothered to switch it out after Halloween. All through Christmas, winter and now it’s spring … and the pumpkins are still here.

It’s been time for something new for a very long time.

So why did we put it off for so long?

Resistance is real. And it is strong.

New Front Doors and Resistance

I resist little things like sitting down and working on this blog post. And I resist big things like making a major improvement to my home. Why? Why do I resist good things?

Maybe a better question to ask is: How can I not do that anymore?

I think one way is to just keep going— step by step. It sounds stupidly simple because it is. Ask your neighbor for the name of the company who installed their beautiful new front door. Call the company for a quote. Choose a window design. It really wasn’t that hard. (And I LOVE the design we chose.)

Now we have beautiful new front doors!

Sit down. Get up and move your seat if looking out the window is too distracting. Close Google. Start writing. Even if it sounds stupid and you don’t know where this is going, just start writing. It really isn’t that hard.

Now I have a blog post for this week! (Hey! That’s two in a row!)

How you do one thing is how you do everything.

We were talking about that in my Cosmic Smashbooking class last week. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

(I’ve also heard it said how you do little things is how you do big things.)

Do I really want to be a person who drags their feet on every stinking thing big and small? Do I really want to distract myself with random busyness and rabbit holes to the point that I’m not doing my work, not enjoying my home and not fully living my life anymore?

No. I do not.

Now that this post is written, I’m going to be like Prince and Charles Dickens and publish it without a lot of fuss and move on. I got two or three ideas for future posts just from the exercise of writing this. So I can keep going next week and the next.

And now that the new front doors are installed, I have a list of items I need at the home improvement store to spruce up the porch. White paint for the ceiling and a new welcome mat are at the top of the list. I don’t want to stop here and have really nice front doors and that’s it.

Resistance is real. And it is strong. But I am stronger.

You are too! Whatever you are resisting this week — big or small — I invite you to keep going. Take the next step. Even if it is hard and/or you don’t feel like it. Take the next step.

Love,

Courtney

P.S. —The Helen Keller quote I found that sent me down the resistance rabbit hole today was this: Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.