Dear reader,
A new year is not only a time to recommit to exercising more, losing weight, and, yes, decluttering our homes, but it’s also a time for self-reflection, which I been doing a lot lately. After nearly 21 years of writing this weekly column and after much soul searching, I decided to make a change.
This may not be difficult news for you, but it is for me. So please humor me one more time while I wax and pine in this final dispatch.
Writing this column and being a part of your lives, no matter how small, has been the greatest honor of my career. I am immensely grateful and fortunate to have been featured in so many community newspapers, which has made it possible to share coffee with you on Saturday mornings.
I’m grateful to my editors who embraced my content and made room in their home sections for my idea of what a home column should be – a voice that reflects the struggles as well as the secrets of a beautiful life, while dealing with family members, money. , time and the limits they impose.
I’m honored to have been responsible for many of your household decisions, including whether to install a fireplace in your remodeled living room, how soon is it OK to remodel after losing a spouse, and what to do from Grandma’s beloved Lladro collection.
I am grateful to the many, many experts — the interior designers, the architects, the craftsmen, the painters, the carpenters, the stonemasons, the rug weavers, the quilters, the upholsterers, the wine glass enthusiasts, the textile experts, basket weavers, furniture makers, color consultants, caterers, knife makers, organizers, real estate agents, appraisers and more — who, during hundreds of hours of conversation, have given master classes in their professions, generously sharing their expertise, so that I can share it with you.
I am deeply grateful to the readers who educated me, including the legions of engineers who quickly set me straight on the difference between concrete and cement, words, I learned, that are not interchangeable. I learned so much from you.
We had a good run. We shared a few laughs. When I started this column, my children were in elementary school. I lived in the Rocky Mountains and didn’t have to color my hair or wear glasses. Today, my daughters are in professional careers and married. One has a baby. I live in Florida. Fighting the gray and having glasses hidden in every room and pocket are just two examples of reminders that time is passing.
Along the way, we’ve been through multiple moves (10 in 20 years, which exhausts me to think about), downsizing of family homes, divorce, remarriage, lots of renovations, vacations, of celebrations, losses, reinvention and many bottles of Advil and alcohol. I hope I’ve helped you in life half as much as you’ve helped me.
The newspapers have changed, the readership has changed and I have changed. As Oprah said at the end of her 25-year TV show, “I feel it in my bones.” Although his bank account is much larger than mine, our deep feelings are the same. It’s time. Today, a new generation of influencers, Instagrammers and YouTubers, some incredibly entertaining, intelligent and creative, are adding new perspectives to the field of home design and better living. I want to give the floor.
What will I do instead? As some of you know, I also have a day job. I run a non-profit patient advocacy organization that deserves and needs more of my time. I’m going to reclaim my weekends and spend more time traveling with my husband and seeing my new grandbaby without bringing my laptop. And I have a new book in mind, my eighth, that I would like to write.
Although I will no longer publish a weekly column, I have no intention of stopping expressing my unsolicited opinions on home design, good living, and optimal sizing, through my books, my public speaking and my media interviews and podcasts. You can view them on my website and subscribe to my missives there.
As I write this, it is fittingly New Year’s Day. It’s not an ending, but rather a bittersweet beginning. I’m going to miss it. However, as I launch my next chapter, I leave you for now with these thoughts:
• Be yourself. Don’t decorate for someone else. Create a home that most beautifully reflects your personality, your life, your heritage and your interests.
• Look for less and more. Surround yourself with quality, not quantity. This applies to both people and material goods.
• Be intentional. To live beautifully, you have to do more than just want; you have to work at it, make a continuous effort. You have to care and try. You live once. Honor the deed.
• Entertain. Don’t wait until your home is perfect to entertain guests. Connection with others is the fabric and soul of life. Open your home and your heart often to engage with family, neighbors, friends, and co-workers.
• Take stock. As I’ve preached, letting go, whether of things or obligations (like this column), at the right time, not only helps simplify your life but also makes room for what matters else. Make editing your life an ongoing process.
• Evolve. Life changes. Have the courage to let go. Let go of everything – possessions, jobs, relationships – that no longer serve you, satisfy you, or enrich you. Holding on to the past robs us of the present and, more importantly, the potential for a better future. Thanks for reading.
Live well.
Marni Jameson is the award-winning author of seven books, including “Rightize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow,” “What to Do with Everything You Own to Leave the Legacy You Want,” and “Downsizing the Family Home “. Contact her at marni@marnijameson.com.