What “Enoughness” Looks Like

“Instead of looking around my living space with gratitude for the soft comfort I've built for myself, inflected with my peculiar tastes and preferences, I see lack. And that dissatisfaction becomes a lingering fog, dampening my experience of the world.”

–  The Optimzation Sinkhole by Anne Helen Petersen

I came across this interesting newsletter on remodeling culture last week. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve read it four times. Sometimes you read something that speaks truth to the jumbled contradiction of your own thoughts and actions. And I think this is one of those times.

Petersen writes about why it’s so hard to be content and accept “enoughness,” even when we have everything we need. It turns out that many of us become obsessed with the idea of change and improvement—whether it’s in our homes, jobs, or relationships. We’re so caught up in trying to make things better that we can’t see the beauty and joy of what already exists.

Petersen encourages us to take a step back from our constant striving for improvement and recognize when something is good enough. It’s the possible antidote for when we find ourselves consumed by optimizing our lives. Because, surprise, there is always something that could use a little tweaking if you examine it too closely. And if you’re scrolling through Instagram, it is hard to not find yourself overwhelmed by all the striving and doing and improving. 

For me, there has been something out of alignment about the constant churn of improvement in the home decor space.