Dear Friends,

In the United States of America we celebrate the anniversary of our Independence Day each 4th of July. The other night a young new reporter said that this was the day we won the war for independence. I thought Robert and I were going to scream our heads off at the TV. We just looked at each other in shock.

We were taught in school that July 4th 1776 was the day the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. The Boston Tea Party was in December 1773; this was the beginning of our quest for this independence. The battles raged on various fronts all across the 13 Free and Independent States until late 1782. I am going to reread one of the best books I have ever read about this time in our history, Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence.

I woke up this morning to this essay brewing in my head. We all have our own independence days. We don’t just wake up one morning and we are free of the stress that is holding us in bondage. We have to declare at least to ourselves that we don’t want to live this way another day and set out on our journey to find the peace that we so deserve.

In our perfectionism we just want it to wave our magic wand and have our houses in order, but that is not the real world. We have to go through the struggles to feel the value in what we are doing. This is why it is so important for us to be a part of the independence process! We have to be the one taking charge of our homes.

Let’s face it; if someone came in and got rid of all of our clutter we would still be living in CHAOS within just a few days! This is because we had not established the simple habits to keep the clutter from coming back. It takes time and practice to establish these simple habits and string them into routines. The smallest habits help us to win this battle on a daily basis!

Just last night I was talking to a good friend. He was telling me how much having a before bed routine had changed his life. He said that he could no longer go to bed without putting his clothes out for the next day and straightening up his hot spots. I explained to him that I felt that the Before Bed Routine was the most important one of the day! He agreed with me because if he only does his Before Bed Routine his life runs smoothly.

Our routines free us from the bondage of CHAOS! Your Independence Day was the day you decided to join us in our quest for Peace! Every day we have a choice! We can get up and do our routines or we can allow CHAOS to continue to reign in our lives! Every day is a new day! We can jump in right where we are and take the babysteps of our daily habits to celebrate the victory of each day!

Now I am in tears. My sweet darling told me a little proverb. For the want of a nail a horseshoe was lost. For the want of a horseshoe, a horse was lost. For the want of a horse, a horseman was lost. For the want of a horseman the battle was lost and thus the country was lost.

I looked it up and it is a nursery rhyme and it was also quoted by Benjamin Franklin. How appropriate that we come full circle in our thoughts. Since Ben also signed the Declaration of Independence.

“For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.” Benjamin Franklin

So you see even the simplest of habits can make a difference in the way your day progresses. Every habit is a nail to hold your routines together to form the foundation for peace in your life!

You can do this! You have to start someplace! Go shine your sink! That can be your Declaration of Independence!

FlyLady