Hello!
This month’s newsletter is less holistic interior design and more interior reflection as I take a moment to share my thoughts on what I learned in 2024.
How was 2024 for you? What did you struggle with and more importantly, what did you learn and how did you grow? Would love to hear from you – comment below!
Sending lots of 💙,
A NOTE FROM GALA
December 2024
To our readers,
I always love the end of the year- for the craziness it brings (getting ready for the Holidays and all the fun parties and gatherings) and then… the momentary pause. It’s as if Nature intended for us to have a moment to look back, reflect and plan for the coming year.
This year, I don’t want to talk about business. I want to share a couple of themes that popped up, over and over again both in my personal life and at work.
#1 - PERFECTIONISM
This is a great quality to have as an interior designer. We design and set up client’s spaces- and every last detail has to be perfect. But when it carries over into other aspects of life, it can really take the fun out of things.
This year I really got clear on how tough I am on myself when things don’t go absolutely perfect. Or when I miss a detail. And what I realized is that it’s totally unnecessary and also completely zaps the joy out of things, making them feel heavier and more serious than they actually are.
Now that I’m aware of it, when it happens, I can catch myself most of the time. And do you know what I end up doing? Laughing at myself! Like “oh hey girl, you’re back? No, you’re too much. I’m good. Thank YOU and byeeeee!”
I may never be able to stop it from happening in the first place, but I can definitely minimize the time I allow it to affect me in a negative way. This was a huge AHA and will definitely make life a whole lot more enjoyable going forward.
#2 - THE UNKNOWN
This year, I experienced one of the hardest and most painful things of my life- I separated from my wife with a 2.5 year old child. OUCH.
It was one of the scariest decisions ever. My wise best friend said to me- “Gala, generally, when we’re afraid to do something, it’s the exact thing we need to do.”
What’s so scary about the unknown? That we have no idea what’s going to happen. Our brains conjure up every single worst-case scenario to protect us and in doing so, make it even scarier to make a jump and keep us stuck, sometimes in a situation or relationship that may not be the best for us.
But on the other side of the leap into the unknown is the ability to rise and create again. Post separation I am slowly rebuilding my life and finding pockets of joy. The journey has also allowed me to get to know myself in a new way and be really intentional about how I want to live my life going forward. Do I still wish it could have been avoided- yes. Am I grateful for everything I have learned along the way and has that helped me evolve as a person- also yes.
When we step into the unknown and trust the way and that all will work out- BIG SECRET- it does. This was a huge learning for me this year.
#3 - MINDSET AWARENESS
The last thing I want to share is this whole concept of mindset awareness. This is just the ability to be able to observe your thoughts and catch yourself when you’re picking up an unconscious pattern (generally an old story from the past or reactive thoughts) and can redirect it. It looks something like this:
Someone cuts you off in traffic. Your immediate reaction is to yell some obscenity at the person while your blood pressure and stress levels rise. As you continue to drive, you replay the moment over and over and keep getting angrier and angrier. You arrive to work- angry, and maybe that affects the rest of your day.
Scenario two (hello, mindset awareness!), someone cuts you off. You say to yourself, “wow, that person must be in a serious hurry. I hope everything is OK with them.” Turn up the volume and keep driving. You arrive to work as if nothing happened and in the best mood. Maybe even grateful that you have nothing to be in a stressed hurry about.
It takes seconds to catch yourself and can literally change not only the entire course of your day, but also transform old negative thought patterns into new positive ones- for good. And then slowly, because our thoughts create our reality, you begin transforming your reality into a better one. Who doesn’t want that?
The process of catching my old or reactive thought patterns is daily work that I do. And another BIG SECRET- it will never stop. But the time it takes to catch things and reverse the story is getting to be less and less- and that is a huge success.
As I always say- life is gonna life. If 2024 taught me anything, it’s that. But how we navigate life “lifing” can make a world of difference. And although it kicked my ass, I am truly grateful for everything I learned I this year.
I hope 2024 was a great year for you and if it wasn’t, if it was hard, that at least you grew, learned and got clarity on how best to move forward. Here’s to 2025!
Interested in working with us on the design of your space? Reach out to us at [email protected] to see how we can work together on your commercial or residential interior design project.
