Welcome to Makeunder My Life!
I hope you enjoy your visit and take some time to explore the categories on the sidebar. Daily posts cover a variety of topics including making under, creating an intentional life, home design, easy recipes, interviews about intentional living, plus a dash of business advice or ‘off the chain update’ about my jewelry line, Jess LC.
So what exactly is a makeunder?
I use this term to describe any action that improves one’s life through addition by subtraction. For example, every Friday I get rid of something that I don’t need, use, or love anymore (I call this my “end of the week exfoliation“). I do this because I would like to have nice possessions, but I don’t have the money to afford lots of nice things. By getting rid of the items I don’t covet anymore, my ratio of nice to not-nice stuff increases, and I end up closer to my goal. To see a variety of ways to makeunder including my four step plan, read this post.
Even more important to my philosophy is the idea that everyone is a designer of their life and we use intentions (conscious or otherwise) to guide and shape our actions and environment. Sure there are lots of things we cannot control in our lives, but how we respond and design our lives accordingly is up to us.
Where did the idea for making under come from?
The idea behind MML came to me five years ago when I was an unhappy college junior wishing my life could be transformed by the next purchase, number on the scale, or guy in my life. Needless to say, I had little success achieving the peace and happiness I craved seeking those forms of “perfection.”
One day I heard about how Michelangelo once said that designing the beautiful David statue was easy. He saw the statue’s form beneath the layers of rock, and he simply needed to remove the excess layers that were hiding it’s true potential. After hearing that quote, everything clicked for me. I didn’t need to be someone different, new, or improved (like the most popular tv show at the time, Extreme Makeover, would have me believe). I just needed to remove the layers of “stuff” that were hiding my true self. From that point on, I realized my purpose is to help others reach this understanding and peel off the layers of physical and emotional “stuff” hiding their best selves.
You can see a brief review of my journey from that Michelangelo quote five years ago, here.
So what do I do besides Makeunder My Life?
I am also a Chicago-based jewelry designer with a line called Jess LC that I began when I was a high school freshman (10 years ago). I live in a beautiful apartment with my boyfriend, Erwin, in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood next to a dog park (where I fantasize about walking my not-yet-existent Westie, Elsie). I love to run, constantly improve my apartment, shop at Trader Joe’s, and yes: I get the same thrill out of getting rid of stuff as I do from buying new things.
So how can you say hello?
I love email and twitter buddies so feel free to connect with me both ways!
Email: jess@jesslc.com
Twitter: @JessConstable
