Jennifer has a super-power. I actually think we all have one. Something that we are uncannily good at. (Side note: What do you think yours is? Reply to this email and let us know...I love hearing people’s answer to this question!)
Jennifer’s undisputed super-power is…
Organizing closets, drawers, and car trunks! It’s gotten to the point that when I have a pile of things to put away, I just put them on the ground and tell Jennifer there’s something for her to put away 😂 Talk about relationship goals!
The way that Jennifer organizes starts out like a disaster. EVERYTHING is pulled out and laid on the floor. There are piles of the half-forgotten and the weird along with the must-haves and essentials.
I love this way of talking about our relationships too. Occasionally, you need to take everything out and decide what gets put back in. Without doing this, we get stuck in ruts. We get riveted to seeing our spouse, colleague, friend, or sibling the same way we have always seen them. And if we don’t take the time to communicate and meet each other anew, we stop connecting.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t deliberately keep our relationships organized and cleaned out. We tend to let stuff pile up, we rush, we take a shortcut, we don’t take the care to put something exactly where it belongs (aka communicate in a precise and timely manner); and sometimes, we just drop things. It often takes a fight or an argument to wake us up and start us wondering, “How did we get here?”
Well, not to sound too arrogant, but we know how you got there. You pigeonholed each other. You stopped communicating and you stopped listening. And sure, you didn’t stop altogether, but you stopped enough that you no longer feel the connection that makes you hungry to know more about each other. Hungry to share and grow together. There are probably times when you think you already know what the other is going to do or say, so you don’t even bother talking to them about it.
It takes shockingly little to reawaken that connection. And it starts with communication. Take the time to look at what is in the closet of your relationships. Does it still belong in there? Is it in the right spot? Do you both need to take it out and look at it again?
Your advocates for spring cleaning all year long!
