What is happening in our physical world is often a reflection of what is happening inside of us. My own home is an example of this. My house is not the result of a carefully designed plan with perfectly placed and matching décor. My home is a cacophony of generational treasures, cheap garage sale finds, precious sentimental things that remind me of shared experiences with the ones I love, and inspiration for my future dreams.
All of these things I have intentionally layered to create beautiful and functional spaces that work to bind us together and inspire lifelong connections.
When I was about 8 years old, my mother left. Even before that experience, I felt unseen and alone. The foundation that was being laid for me was one of emotional detachment, loneliness and depression. This pushed me into a personal made-up world of beauty and wonder where I lived detached from the outside world. When I got married and began having children, the only thing I knew to do was to try and bring my husband and my children into my private world. The only problem was, this required compliance from the outside world as well as from my husband and children. What I believed to be the answer, I soon discovered was an unrealistic and impossible task. "If only I had a beautiful home...then I could manage my way into peace and tranquility and order." But I didn’t. I had a rental in a low-income housing project. No matter how hard I tried to keep the place clean, I couldn’t outpace the frequent sewage overflow...or the persistent mushrooms growing out of our damp carpet...or the frequent emotional and mental breakdowns my husband and I were having. The hard truth was that if my circumstances never changed, and I wanted a life of peace and beauty, the thing that was going to have to change was me.
As it turned out, the real obstacle wasn’t my old and dirty home, it was my inner state of being characterized by learned helplessness, fear of inadequacy, bitterness, fear of failure, shame, self-loathing and so much more. These were the real things I was trying to make a home with.
For things to be different, I had to take inventory of my life as it currently was and decide what was I going to keep and what was I going to let go. Furthermore, the things I decided to keep were also going to have to be effectively managed and arranged to create peace, expectancy, belonging and a sanctuary for growth for myself and all who entered into my sphere of influence.
My life, as reflected in my home, is not a perfect picture. It still has dirty spots and cobwebbed corners. It is layered and sometimes chaotic. But it is intentional. I’ve taken what I’ve accumulated and learned and have worked to create places where family and guests can have experiences. Warm and safe places to have the difficult conversations. Extra rooms where people can stay and recover from life’s hard hits or transition into a next exciting chapter. Places to sit and chat, or think, or wonder, or pray. Places to hide while still being seen. Places to be inspired and create.
Vashti’s House is an extension of my own life. It is a lifestyle company created to bring the values, and foundational truths for making a home inside yourself accessible, captivating experiences designed to transform your life. We are doing this by creating exclusive products, resources, and services that will inspire and equip you to create a life of peace, expectancy, and belonging, and a life that is a sanctuary for growth for yourself and the people and places you influence.
The hard work of making your inner life the way you want it is worth it, and we are here to help you, and encourage you, and walk with you in that journey. -Vashti
Vashti's is the mother of 6 adult children, and a grandmother. Besides their children, Vashti and her husband, Chris, have housed and sheltered over 40 people in their 30 plus years of marriage.