Today was the first day back to school for my daughter. As I took the obligatory photo, I looked around the room and marveled at how different it was from a few months ago.
Gone were the grey walls with pink polka dots.
Gone were the toys that filled the shelves, dusty from years of un-use.
The books from which we read bedtime stories of princesses and fairies were sold to willing neighbors.
The walls are painted white, a blank canvas for her creativity.
Her bookshelf—now cleared of outgrown toys and books—even has one one empty shelf, waiting.
For what?
We don’t know yet.
But the possibilities are intriguing.
Maybe it will be stuffed full with the manga she started reading or merch from the K-pop bands she’s obsessed with.
Maybe it will be filled with makeup as she gets older.
Or maybe it will be crammed with the souvenirs of her teen years—whatever mix tapes, printed photos, dried flowers, filled-up journals look like for this generation.
The stories around clearing your home always talks about what you want to keep, whether things “spark joy” or not.
But clearing also makes room for magic, for possibility, for the needs of the woman you are evolving to be.
What is waiting to enter your life if you make space for it?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.
