This past month has been a time of intense change in the house.
The first thing I tackled was decluttering and putting everything in its place. Over the years, so much builds up!
The next order of business was starting some major home renovations, which are always a bigger project than they look. The house has gone from cluttered to chaos, then organized, then chaos again. Much like in life, things often get worse before they get better!
While organizing and renovating to within an inch of my life, I was looking over the blueprint to the house and noticed which areas we were focusing on most. Some rooms were still in pretty good shape, while others needed a bit of love to bring them back to their best.
I couldn’t help but compare it to how we structure ourselves.
Which areas of our lives are doing well, and which might be in need of a little renovating?
Everyone has certain parts of their house they value most. It might be a place where they spend the bulk of their time, or that has special meaning to them. For me, the reading nook in the study is my sanctuary, and I retreat there whenever I need a minute to recharge.
If you find yourself a bit overwhelmed with life and wish that you had a clearer idea of what needs to change, I suggest drawing up a blueprint!
Visualizing your life like this can be a great way to organize each area and see which things are getting too much priority or too little.
Think of it like a superpowered bullet journal or a mind map–the point is to put things into a perspective you can easily understand.
How Do I Make a Life Blueprint?
Start With the Basics
First, imagine the most basic floor plan you can. If you found yourself having to create one from scratch, what would you include?
You’d probably have at least a kitchen, living area, a bedroom, and bathroom.
You’d have these key aspects, or realms, in your home.
All of these rooms can represent the realms in our lives.
The kitchen, for example, could be the realm devoted to our bodies, as this is where we nourish them and keep them healthy.
The bedroom could indicate our relationships and emotions, including the ones we feel toward ourselves.
A garage could contain the materials and resources we have.
An art room (or gaming room, library, whatever brings you joy) can be your personal realm, where your hobbies and self-care reside.
So with your own realms in mind, start by drawing a floor plan just like this using these essential rooms first. Don’t overthink where the rooms go; place them where it feels right to you. They can go anywhere you want.
Get More Specific
Next, add the rooms that are personal to you.
These optional rooms can indicate chosen parts of your life, things that you may have that not everyone else possesses. A kids’ room could indicate your family realm. Add, say, an office or study and you have your professional realm. What you build is up to you.
Add Fun Details
From then on, get creative! Feel you have enough rooms for a second story? Add one. Feel like adding more detail such as a garden or fancy bookshelves? Do it!
You’re Done!
When you’re finished, take a step back and look at what you’ve drawn.
Are you happy with what you see?
I know this is a bit of a complex question. Don’t worry, this is not about drawing skill!
Look at it in terms of your actual life, laid out in a floor plan. From there, ask yourself these smaller, more manageable questions:
- Which rooms are the biggest? Take a look at one of them, such as the bedroom which holds your relationships and emotions realm. Are they as big as you want them to be if you were living your perfect life?
- Where did you place them? This is about which rooms get priority. Think about the room that holds your personal realm. Is it near the front door, or all the way in the back of the house? Would you ideally like it to be in a more visible area?
Ask yourself whether the ones you put in front are the ones that are most important.
- How do you imagine these rooms filled? Are they lovingly decorated, or a bit empty? Are they messy or organized?
For example:
In your life as it is now, think of how well you are taking care of your health. When you envision your kitchen realm, is it a clean, tidy place to be, or are the dishes overflowing and the contents of your fridge half expired?
These questions all add up to that main one: are you happy with the way things look?
If the life blueprint you really want isn’t quite what you’re seeing, that’s okay! We all have things we want to work on.
Homes are constantly being improved. Sometimes it happens slowly, with a new plant purchased here and there. It may be a small change, but enough of them can make a big difference over time.
Think about what the ideal life blueprint would look like to you. Do you have multiple stories, a grand mansion filled with possibilities, or prefer to keep things as simple and cozy as possible?
Taking an objective look could show you areas where you could use a little more space to grow or where you could afford to downsize a bit.
What’s Next?
If you tried out this exercise (or are just following along, imagining as you go), amazing job! Mapping everything out like that and examining each piece is no easy task. Even if it doesn’t immediately provide all of the answers, it can uncover the right questions.
Design the Life Blueprint You Truly Want
It is your choice what to do with this blueprint after it’s finished.
- Will you stay there, content with its design?
- Do you work toward eventually owning a dream home, one that looks entirely different?
- Do you keep it mostly as is, but with an expansion here or there?
From here, create the life blueprint you truly want. This can take place inside your head, but I would recommend drawing it up anyway to look at your present floor plan and the new one side-by-side.
Taking the time to do this can help you form a great plan of attack. Start room by room so you don’t overwhelm yourself in new projects!
Once you know which tasks to take on, you can find the tools you will need to build.
Try to Focus on Your Own Life Blueprint
It can be so easy to compare blueprints with another person. No two people have quite the same one.
Others may have their own plans with similar elements, but each one is unique because they are filling it with things that are theirs.
Their relationships will be different, along with their values and ways of interacting with the world. Just because it is different, does not mean it is better or worse. It’s just theirs.
Daily struggles can be so overwhelming, building up and up until it becomes hard to see the bigger picture. We may not even see the work needed until the whole house is about to come down.
Remember, it’s your life blueprint. Your life. You can plan it however you like.
I hope you build the very best house you deserve.
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Another great way to ask the right questions is by using the Soul Life Treasure Hunt game, where you examine ideas using different viewpoints and concepts in the form of a board game. Sometimes seeing things right in front of you is all it takes to make valuable connections. I invite you to check it out!