Fresh Paint & a New You

I have been painting lately, no not a great work of art like Rembrandt, Picasso, or Monet.. I have been painting the house, room by room. I have found colors on the reject, messed up rack at Home Depot. You can get a gallon of paint for $5.00... but you have to accept the choices you are given, there are no requests to be made, you take what comes, what you get and make do. A lot like life.
Out of about 10 areas, I have painted 5 fully, 2 partially, and I have come to a realization. Fresh paint is like creating a new you. I have found that you enter a different mindset when you paint versus living in the same white walls. By painting I find you commit to deal with the issues, to accept the good & the bad & live with it. You can change the bad, for in changing the bad it is like changing the paint, this is an external process but causes internal changes. You are changing or wanting to change instead of just accepting the same old situation.
I feel a sense of permanence when I paint a room. I no longer feel I am living in an apartment that I can move from easily. I have ownership, the place is mine and I can do what I want with it. I could paint the place in bold wild colors, blue, black, red, stripes or polka dots and not have to worry about changing it until I am ready to leave.
Painting also makes you create a commitment. You take time to decide to a color but once it is on the walls there is no going back you have committed to finishing out the room in that color. While you can repaint the walls or change your mind, you are committed to initial aspects of painting and following through.
You are restoring something back to new, taking away the scratches, the scuff marks and discoloration, making it clean and new again, a new start.
What I have found in painting is a new individuality and pride in doing it myself. I have a new sense of confidence in standing back and looking at a room that I have changed and made over. At first it is a bit overwhelming as taping the room, preparing it to paint, piece by piece you are moving closer to the changes but you still feel like it is such a big project. If you keep at it and persevere you make progress, changes and at some point can step back and see what has occurred, it inspires you to keep going and finish it out, to finishes the changes. Much like in changing yourself, at first it is a huge project, you can be discouraged, tempted back into your old ways, but if you keep at it one step at a time you make progress & at some point you can step back and see the progress you have made.