Jani Martinius

From chaos to peace

Have you ever noticed that when you are doing a good spring clean of a closet, room or even the whole house, everything gets so much worse before it gets better?

A little backstory first:

You might remember that I am also a red seal carpenter, and run my own small business beautifying people’s homes, and building their dreams. For the past year I have been using our truck for work, which has been a great starting point for me, but also very frustrating. Since the truck bed doesn’t have a cover, I had to unload all my tools into the garage at night for safe keeping, and load them back up the next morning. I can think of so many nicer things to do than unpack my tools in the dark and cold after a day of work.

After much consideration and online searching, I got myself a work van!! May I introduce: Blue Betty

I put her to work the moment I got her & picked up some lumber on my way home. We had to drive about 90mins to where she was located

I spent three days building and installing shelves, cleaning up the van, building a doggy bed for Noah in the front, insulating the cab… All while our garage was a giant mess with my tools and materials all over the place. One step at a time I set up the van just the way I like it, where everything has a dedicated space now.

Funny side story about this shelf: I got it from a friend of a friend who has the exact same van, and when he bought his it came with these shelves already installed. The previous owner had them custom built to fit the van. Lucky day for me! I insulated the cab (the pink material), so it warms up quickly and feels cozy, especially when driving in the dark!)

I built this shelf to fit exactly what I need! The lower shelf is my little paint department :)

How does this relate to spring cleaning again?

Well, just like the state of our garage got so much more cluttered and annoying while I was working on the solution to make everything better, I think the same happens to us in regular life too! (not just when we’re cleaning)

Have you ever been in a situation you didn’t particularly enjoy, but stayed in for now anyways? Perhaps a relationship with a spouse or friend, a job or something totally different…

In my experience, something didn’t feel right, but it wasn’t quite bad enough yet to leave or make a change. I suffered a while longer, thinking I could stick it out because of the great excuses my ego made for me. (for example: If you leave now, you’re a quitter, if you can’t handle this kind of a job, you don’t belong here… etc)

Until something else happened to make everything worse, like “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for me to say: I need change, and I need it now.

I don’t have a great big life lesson here today, just something for us to notice when we find ourselves in situations that aren’t quite right for us.

Do we wait to see if it gets worse to make a change? Suffer longer?

Or do we notice the discomfort and misalignment now and take charge and make a change?

Notice the judgmental thoughts that come up, and question them. Are they true? Who would you be if you didn’t have this thought?

I am so happy that I made the investment to buy this van now, and don’t have to suffer through another winter with the truck. I love my Blue Betty and she has already made my life 1000 times better and more comfortable.

Be brave and make the change you need to love your life again. I am always in your corner, cheering you on in your quest to live your best life!