Los Angeles Interior Designer: Is the Grass Always Greener?

Early this week as I walked to my car under the warmth of a February ’08 day in Los Angeles I heard a young voice singing Cher’s classic “If I Could Turn Back Time.” This energetic 8–year-old, with head tossed back, was belting this number like a lounge act in a velvet-lined back room far off the Vegas strip.

With all the mimicked emotion possible, the lyrics and inflections poured. How could you not smile? I caught his mother’s eye as I passed and as she bobbed to the surface after loading the trunk with the bounty of the day. She smiled, shrugged and gave me a look that said, “If only!”

Right up there with “The Grass is Always Greener,’ there are phrases in our culture which are about escape from a current situation or condition. Music, media and theatre find these threads consistently woven through their unique snapshots of the world. How nice is the thought of escape.

How pleasant is the idea of that “things” will somehow be better “over there.” Most religious experiences leverage this idea in a manner, which brings hope where it might not otherwise exist.

My thought today has to do with self-empowerment and the idea that instead of looking longingly backwards, across the fence, over the hill or into your neighbors’ bay window, understand the power within which can bring change right where you stand. Looking around your living room today, are you not happy with what you see?

Stop looking longingly through glossy periodicals. Set a goal (nothing in this world happens without a goal or an objective). Write down three steps you need to take to realize your goal (paint the fireplace, buy a new area rug, sew new pillows for sofa). Get to work. Sooner than you think, the grass that you were admiring on the other side of the fence will have crept under the fence and will surround you.