Slowness, Stillness, Simplicity

This idea keeps swirling around my life. Several years ago, our preacher did a series on having margin in your daily life. Time is precious.  The theme for my moms-of-preschoolers group this past year was rest.  And then I keep coming across books and blogs and products designed to simplify our lives.  To slow us down.

Earlier this year I won the book Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner at my mom’s group. Not only was this memoir poetically written with inspiring pictures and stories (not to mention how I want to live in her minimalistic house with her clothes!), but it touched me at a deeper level.  Why do we hustle so much?  Where are we trying to go?  Once we get there, then what?  Often we just try to go on to the next thing.

I’m not saying we should get rid of goals or to do lists.  Those things are important and oh-so-helpful.  But I think we should take a moment to be in the moment.  Appreciate what we have. Listen to our child laugh.  Try to figure out why they’re interested in that stick.  Feel the sun on our face.  Appreciate that we have 30 coffee cups in the cupboard and a warm pot of coffee brewing.  Delight in the meal we spent an hour and a half making (even when our families take 2.5 minutes to eat it, the toddler throws his on the floor, and the baby cries the whole time). 

I also recently stumbled upon Emily Ley’s 31 Day Simplicity Challenge.  While I am noticing, and being thankful for the abundance that we have in our lives and in our home, I also am realizing 1) how draining it is to be surrounded by clutter and 2) how I could be so generous out of my abundance

Conveniently, I also received a notice in the mail earlier this week from the American Veterans (AMVETS) saying they are in need of household items and gently used clothing, and they would – get this – pick it up from my curb!  AAAAHHH! No more excuses about how it is so hard to drop off my donations because _____ (fill in the blank: I have two kids under two, it’s so dang hot in the summer, I can’t remember to put the bags in my car…) So, I went for it!  I left boxes and bags on the sidewalk this morning, and hopefully they will bless someone in their second (or third, or fourth) life.

(Side note: I’m wondering if it really is generous of me to box up things I’m not using anymore and leave them on the curb.  There’s not much of a pain point in that action.  Should I take clothes that I really like and enjoy and go hand them to someone in person? I don’t know.  I have a feeling that I should up the “pain point” a little in my generosity, but we’re starting with this baby step today)

This week I’m going to try to be still. And slow. And simple.  And just appreciate what is right in front of me.

Here is Emily Ley’s simplicity challenge:

https://www.emilyley.com/blogs/emily-ley/2018-simplicity-challenge

And here is Erin Loechner’s book:

https://designformankind.com/chasingslow/

Reading is my hobby...and I'm finally okay with that!

Did you ever have to fill out an “About Me” page on the first day of school? I remember doing so about every year of my life!  The section about who inspires you was always confusing to me because I wasn’t so sure that I was actually inspired.  Putting “my mom” as an answer always seemed a safe bet…who isn’t inspired by their mom!

But another “about me” section that confused me was hobbies.  I would think about it and tentatively put down “reading.” Is reading a hobby? I would wonder. Does that even count?

Oh yeah, I did ballet for several years, and I sang in choir for a long time, but are those hobbies? (Obviously, I over think things.).

If a hobby is something you do for fun in your free time, then reading IS a hobby for me! And it has been since I could read.  But I continued to question this for years because reading sounds like a boring thing to have as a hobby.  I didn’t build model cars I didn’t compete in water polo I didn’t skate down blocks of my neighborhood… reading seems a little non-adventurous.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized a few things: there is no reason to be ashamed of my love of reading.  It’s not like I am shunning the rest of the world and never doing any movement or speaking to any people.  I am living an adventure from a comfy couch, learning something new as I lay on the grass in my back yard, or trying to solve a mystery as I look out at the lake from the dock.

I’ve also realized that there are many women around me who love to read, too.  And based on the sheer volume of books that are out there, it’s safe to say there are many other people in the world who also spend their time with a book. 

So, is this my hobby?  You bet it is!  And since this is something I’ve loved to do since childhood, I should pay special attention to it.  Reading is part of the play of my past, and continuing to “play” in this way will relax me in the ways that only our childhood can. 

If I take a time out from my toddler, my baby, the dishes, dinner, groceries, cleaning, etc to read a novel for a moment, my mind is more clear and ready to handle the next task on the agenda.  When I take a bubble bath with my book at the end of the day I am relaxed and rejuvenated. Occasionally reading for hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon sets me up for a great week.

Some of my favorite books that I’ve read in the last few months:

Novels:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Memoir:

Chasing Slow by Erin Lechner

Children’s Books: (from childhood that I read over and over!)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K. Rowling