What would we change about The Spare Room?
There’s always something, right? For me, I realized that we hadn’t really stopped to explain to Laini that welcoming strangers into our spare room wasn’t something every family did. Because we sort of fell into our social legacy; I’ll completely admit that it wasn’t something we designed with intention from the beginning.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity and so glad that life served up a few “easy wins,” that encouraged us to welcome vulnerable young people into our spare room while my husband and I were still a young couple. I also believe that’s why we were open to some of the tougher cases, later in life.
But, if we had put a name to this social legacy earlier, if we had embraced it with more thought and intentionality, we could have better articulated it to Laini. Of course, we’re all there now, so no harm done.
But this was a valuable lesson for me – one I hope to share with you.
That if we can identify our social legacy earlier in life, we can live with more intentionality. This clarifies purpose, distills the big priorities, and even helps us lead at work with more authenticity.
I also realize this is a wide-open question and I was curious about what Laini might reveal. In fact, my twelve-year old daughter shared the sweetest sentiment – a lesson that many adults have yet to learn. Listen here: