My husband and I have a lot of things in common, but the one area that we do not see the same way is the need for rearranging.  Right now, I’m contemplating taking everything off the walls in my living room and dining room, and moving all of the furniture around and rehanging everything.  I need things to change.  This would be an amazing amount of work, work I don’t have time for, but I’m frustrated with how things are now.  Not that they’re bad, it’s just that they’ve become – well – boring.

Doug, on the other hand, could keep things the same for decades.  He grew up in a household where the furniture arrangement is still basically the same as it was when he was a kid.  He says there’s something comforting in having things the same. You always know where things are. My argument would be that you forget where you put things if you don’t get them out and rearrange them once in a while.  My parents were the same though.  Once something was in its place, it stayed there.  In my room, however, I was frequently rearranging because when you do that, everything feels new again.  You see things through fresh eyes.  Art work looks different over different pieces of furniture. The balance between light and heavy furniture changes.  I’m think I’m pretty good at looking at a room and seeing the possibilities and there’s satisfaction for me when everything has been moved that I can’t quite explain.

The same thing can be said of my drive to work.  I hate going the same way and doing the same thing every day.  I have a couple of options and I switch them out, depending on my mood.  I think it gives me choices when lately my life feels as though I have very few choices.  Doug on the other hand finds the fastest, most direct way to get somewhere and does that every day.  But then, he’s always looking for the shortest line at the grocery store too.  It’s why I relinquish the cart to him when we get to the registers.  I somehow never find the perfect line to stand in!

This attitude extends to my lesson planning.  We all know those teachers who literally teach the same thing for 20 years.  Always in the same order, taught the same way with the same materials.  I’m pretty sure that would kill me.  I adjust and tweak things every year.  I may use a lot of the same material, but I may pair it up with something different, or change how or when I deliver the material.  I think it keeps my mind fresh to where I’m not going on automatic.  My room arrangement at school changes every year as well.  Sure, some things have to be in a certain place, but I’m always looking for another way to improve traffic or access to materials.  If I settle for the way things are, how will I know if there is something better out there?  If it doesn’t work, I can always go back, right?

If only I could just apply this attitude to my schedule or just my life in general.  I tend to get in ruts and then get really frustrated.  But, as I eluded to earlier, I don’t feel like I’m given much choice.  I would love to rearrange my career, but it doesn’t just affect me, it affects my family.  I feel as though I’m at the mercy of others, for instance, having to attend meetings a lot, some of which can be a complete waste of my time because it either doesn’t pertain to what I do or it’s something I already know.  Then again, some of these meetings and conversations are so stimulating that I would rather attend them than teach.  Chances are it’s because something in the meeting causes me to think of rearranging something or rearranging my way of thinking.

In the last few years, some great opportunities have happened my way that have begun rearranging my life some.  It sometimes feels like this great tease because I can almost imagine my everyday lifestyle to be this exciting, but for right now, I’ll have to settle for every once in a while.  These opportunities have allowed me to travel to new and exciting places to work with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.  I get the opportunity soon to begin giving presentations at different state conferences and my hope would be that I would begin to do that kind of thing more often.  I still feel very passionate about music education for kids, but I feel the need to rearrange things in such a way that instead of teaching kids, I would rather teach and inspire adults.  Knowing how I feel when things get in a rut, I would love to be able to help others think differently and rearrange things for themselves.

Again, I refer to my favorite bible verse.  ^“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.  Maybe I need to be more patient as I wait for Him to do a little more rearranging in my life.  So in the meantime, look out living room, here I come.