Living A Beautiful Life
When I was newly married, my Aunt sent me a book that changed my life: Living A Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life, by Alexandra Stoddard. It was a life saver and game changer.
At one point, early in our marriage, we lived a spell with my husband’s parents. To say it wasn’t easy is an understatement of epic proportions. The strain it put on our marriage was acute. We had a small bedroom to call our own, and thanks to Alexandra Stoddard this room became a sanctuary for me.
Almost everything I owned prior to marriage sat in storage while we resided at my inlaws. The furniture in the room wasn’t familiar, and outside of my room the environment was somewhat hostile. But within our little corner of the house, inspired by the message of this book, I found ways of sprucing up the unfamiliar and adding personal touches that made our sojourn there easier.
Living A Beautiful Life is a delightful read. The hand-drawn images throughout add a simple elegance to the written word, and at the end of each chapter Alexandra created space in the form of what she calls Grace Notes, a place for the reader to write down inspiration received as they read the chapter.
This book not only inspired me to make each aspect of life special, but it also taught me how to manage the mundane hours of life when my children were small. A mother’s life can become somewhat monotonous and routine, but when armed with coping mechanisms like this simple book you can easily find methods for improving even the dullest of moments.
To break up the long hours of cleaning and caring for toddlers, I would put my children in the car and drive the 20 minutes to the beach and while they slept in the back of the car I would sit in the driver’s seat and journal. We lived on the Oregon coast at the time, and come rain or shine I would make time for this little jaunt that so fed my soul.
Thank you Alexandra Stoddard for the many ways in which this and your other books have inspired and enriched my life.
The self-destructive nature of doing what you’re told.