Curating My Life

I grew up in a home where just about everything meant something. That is there was a memory associated with it. It wasn’t always my memory, but there was definitely some special meaning for someone in the family. Fast forward to today and I have learned about, what I will call, curating my life. Surrounding myself with what matters to me.

Curating is both memory and aesthetic. Part sensory, part style. In other words, it’s not about trends or other peoples ideals. It’s about what makes me smile, sparks joy (if you are into Marie Kondo) or put simply – I like it. And it turns out it’s rather hard to not be influenced by what you see, whether TV, social media or Pinterest.

What Does Curating Mean?

But what exactly is curating or curation, to curate? Originally it was “the person who takes care of people’s souls.” Then curate morphed into “cure, or take care of”. These days, curation refers to the method of carefully selecting, arranging, or presenting, such as museums have a curator. And very recently I have seen it applied to curating your own things to give them more meaning, to showcase them for your own enjoyment. And I fell in love with this concept.

The concept of curating your things, that is surrounding yourself with things that matter to you is really quite an important concept. By creating focus on what you own, it gives you awareness and helps you stop cluttering or purchasing more. In the current global phenomena of over consumption, curating your life really helps with keeping down the need or desire to purchase. It gives you pause, time to think and reflect on what you actually want. Not what influencers, marketeers want you to buy.

Minimalist Maximalist

I have long thought of myself as a minimalist, but it is not really true. I like things too much to be rigid in owning next to nothing. But what I do make sure I do is curate all that comes into my home. Down to the washing up brush. As I do like things, I choose to make sure that these things are beautiful, at least to me.

I get joy from two aspects of this. First, those items I take the time to consider for my home. As I restore rooms, the rooms develop their own style, niches and needs. And sometimes those needs change. I bought a (second hand) fold out sofa because I needed a double bed for house sitters. It was cute, comfortable, but not the style I wanted. But the room hadn’t developed enough to know yet what I did want. Eventually it did and the sofa had to go. It didn’t fit. So it was given a new home in someone else’s home when I found the perfect vintage sofa bed. It took me a over a year to find it.

And that is what curating is really all about. Taking time to find what you want. Letting rooms, lifestyle, really anything that is of importance dictate what is needed. And then finding the best you can afford that suits that need. It may take time, but there is real fun in the search, and then consequent discovery. Rather like a treasure hunt where you ultimately find the treasure.

Utilitarian Curation

I mentioned two aspects. The second, quirkier one is curating the utilitarian. That washing up brush in example. I came across this concept from Rajiv Surendra in a video on making kitchen chores more enjoyable by utilising beautiful things. The idea of being more mentally attuned to the objects around me has been with me all my life, but the concept of this applying to the mundane had not ever occurred to me. What a re-mindset!

Those every day objects we use all the time, from oven to potato peeler, toothbrush to pen. Actually, on the latter, that is something I have been aware of as a letter writer. I love writing with dip ink pens and have a lovely collection, but it never crossed my mind to extend this beauty to other daily objects. And so now, slowly and with intent, I am replacing my mundane – and especially plastic ones – with more beautiful, unusual or downright quirky versions of them. It has been and continues to be such fun.

On the Hunt

Again that treasure hunt. It’s surprisingly difficult to find some mundane objects that are aesthetically more pleasing. And particularly not in plastic. But the hunt itself is all part of the experience. And this isn’t something that has to be done all at once. I find things as I find them. There is no hurry. It is the taking time, as well as the object, that imbues them with even more joy. So by not being in a rush the anticipation is magnified.

I am looking for things that I love to look at, love to use, and best of all last. Sometimes I turn to vintage or antique items for these. My enameled colander is one example. My copper pots and pans another. I’m currently waiting on copper lids to arrive. They took a long time to find as I wanted old ones, but that have a good quality tin lining. Tricky, but patience wins out. Not everything is old in my house (gosh darn). My oven/air fryer is modern, but looks vintage. It is so darned cute it has made me want to cook more. Now that’s a win.

I recently realised that curating can also be applied to your life itself, not just things. Deciding how you spend your time is in affect a curation. Living in France certainly teaches you about the whole work life balance thing. But it wasn’t until I actively, or should I say knowingly, became a convert to this lifestyle that I realised how curating your time is really important. To your mental health for certain, but also interestingly I focus better on what needs doing. What has priority, what can wait. And I also take the time to sit and contemplate. Particularly with my restoration works. Sitting and thinking, I have discovered, is a very very good use of ones time.

And one can even apply curating to people in your life. I am no longer interested in having depressing people around me. That does not mean I don’t support those who are dealing with depression. Rather, there are certain people that go through life complaining. It’s a national past time here in France. But to me, complaining is okay if you then look for the solution. Complaining for the sake of complaining, quite simply No Thanks. Life is too short to give time to those who can’t or more importantly won’t find some joy in life. I now curate my time when it comes to negative people.

Curate What Makes You Happy

Life can be hard enough for most people. Seeking out what brings you joy is a worthwhile past time. Whether that is things, experiences or people. Taking the time to discover what makes you happy, as well as what does not, helps you determine what to keep in your life. And what to let go of.

Too often we hang on to the mundane, the negative if you will, without even realising we are doing so. I’m hoping more people learn about curating, and become happier and smile more for it.

More Musings

If you have enjoyed my musings, you will find more along the discovery of a simple life in my Simpler Life Findings.

If you wish to nourish my writings, join in here.

If I have inspired you to curate your things, you may wish to have a browse of my vintage & antiques shop. Honestly, things that were made in the past were made to last – and not end up in landfills for a long time.