Oh, this post has serendipitous timing (for me—hopefully for you, as well).

At the beginning of the week, all my thoughts were a jumbled mess in my head. I felt certain I was coming down with an unearthly case of writer’s block and was so close to panic (because clearly, my life and yours rely on this non-income-generating blog of mine)—until I thought of a recent theme: messiness.

Life is just plain messy.

My life is a literal mess because my home is a giant toy store ransacked by a herd of wild buffalo zealous toddler.

And my life is a metaphorical mess because, at 33 (with a birthday just under one month away), I still have no idea what I’m doing or what I’m going to be when I “grow up.” 

In the words of Heidi Hansen, “does anybody have a map, anybody maybe happen to know how the hell to do this?”

And, yet, I realize something: I can’t let that mess control—or limit—my life.

Living in and of itself is messy. It’s the mess that makes our existence worthwhile and interesting.

Embrace the Mess

Even with daily gratitude and an active self-compassion practice, I am prone to falling into the comparison trap.

I think it stems from my own insecurities and feelings of never being good enough or doing what I should be doing.

I have my quirks and eccentricities when it comes to order (basically every child’s toy that comes with several small pieces should also come with a bag to keep them in—and drawers need to be closed all the way, damn it!), but I’m not obsessed with being Susie Homemaker.

And, yet, the mess consumes me at times.

I allow the disorder to infiltrate my thoughts. My moods. My life.

Don't let disorder infiltrate your moods and life. Share on X

I know a “lived in” house equals a home of joy, laughter, and play, but sometimes I do let those misplaced stuffed animals and Tonka trucks wear me down. Especially when I trip over one.

Sometimes I feel like the toy bins taking up free space in every single room of our house are a personal reflection of my abilities and worth and not simply a fortunate consequence of abundance, love for my son, and the joys of make believe and exploration.

Crazy, right?

And sometimes I apply the same misinformed logic to my life.

I have all these ideas. Ideas to branch out into freelance writing. Ideas to one-day write a children’s book. Ideas to pitch to local businesses and promote my city’s treasures while advocating a healthy lifestyle.

But, they’re jumbled and messy.

Sometimes life is jumbled and messy - and that's ok. Share on X

And, so, instead of embracing the challenge and the creative process and learning from setbacks and failures, I just shrug my shoulders and convince myself not to even try.

That it’s not worth it. That I have nothing to say.

But you probably know where that mindset leads.

Sitting things out, giving up on goals, talking myself down—all it does is create more dissatisfaction. It makes life smaller and smaller until you really can’t see the clean space for the clutter and mess.

It’s the complete opposite of trust.

Well, I want to embrace the mess.

I want to be vulnerable. To try things. To laugh (or cry) and brush myself off when I fall into the dirt because that’s living.

Living is sometimes tripping over a misplaced building block and falling onto your face. It’s taking chances, and weeding out the things that don’t matter so the ones that do matter can bloom.

It’s trusting that, in the end, the mess makes sense of itself because it’s uniquely ours. The mess is all part of the creative process, leading to a beautiful, one-of-a-kind picture in the end.

You’ve got to embrace the mess to truly live. Share on X

[linking up with Amanda for thinking out loud]

So tell me…

• Are you a neat freak or is life fine with a little mess?
• How do you embrace your own mess?