Happiness. Let’s talk about it.
What does happiness look like to you? Do you feel it often enough? Do you have peace in your life, in your home, with your self? I am deep into the book The Fringe Hours, which I mentioned last week, and it’s affirming a lot of happiness for me. I hope you don’t mind me sharing about the book some more :)
For almost two years now, since Maxwell was born, Zack has been encouraging me to take more time for myself. To plan things. To leave the unnecessary chores for later. To make plans with my girls (sans babies). But it has been so, so hard for me to follow through with these things, all of which Jessica addresses in her book. Can you relate?
I have ideas and goals and hobbies, but too often they are forgotten because something else is “more important”. And so I do that falsely “more important” thing only to have it steal my time and leave me too tired to do what I really want to do with my life.
Last week I started exercising. And stop all thoughts that I’ve joined a gym and wake up super early to workout! (#yeahright) Once Zack leaves for work, the babes, dog and I walk our neighborhood for an hour. I can easily walk multiple miles without actually going that far from home, simply because I walk both sides of the street before moving on to the next block. Back and forth we go, with the sun on our faces or backs and the cool morning air whipping around. It’s so amazing! I had forgotten how good it feels to exercise.
I’m pushing myself to get back in shape, so I created a fail-proof workout plan by not over-complicating it. Here’s what I mean: we’re gone for at least an hour and I push the babes in our double stroller. I walk fast, encourage myself to run a few of the blocks, and make sure I’m wearing the right clothes and shoes. Some days I listen to a podcast, other days I focus on the sounds in our neighborhood. That’s it!
Jessica is a dear, real-life friend — and yes she sent me a copy of her book — but because it’s blessing me so much I’m choosing to share it with you. I’ve been processing what I’ve been reading (it’s only been four days) but I can already feel a shift in my perspective. And it is so good — amazing, even. I think it’s hard enough to be a woman with all the expectations society imposes, so learning more about how to get my work done and chase after my passions is so refreshing. With this new perspective I’m hardly multi-tasking (my dream!), yet I’m cooking a lot of meals, playing with my kids, baking, reading, getting more sleep at night, engaging deeper with Zack and friends, exercising, and sewing. I told you this book has been goooooood for my happiness :)
That about sums up what I’ve been up to lately. We’re still tackling away at our debt, I’m working on another meal-planning post, and I got a little haircut over the weekend. We also moved Natalie into the nursery a week ago and it’s been a gloriously easy transition, which I’m so thankful for. What have you been up to these days?
A couple of us mammas in SW Pennsylvania are thinking Spring and gearing up for a 5k race in April. I have not run with much of a purpose for a long time……certainly no races since before my 4 kiddos came along! I love to get 30-50 minutes of exercise in most days; it really helps me!
YES! yes yes yes :) So exciting, and good for you for making this happen.
This book sounds so amazing! I can not wait to buy it. I know it is exactly what I need to read right now. We do get busy . Life tends to throw curve balls at you and really gets in the way. We often forget how precious things are and forget how to appreciate little things. We are spoiled, we expect things to come quickly and have results. We just need to take time, especially for ourselves. Recently I guess I made a huge blogging mistake…I deleted my posts because I felt like my content wasn’t good enough. After coming to this realization, I really regret it. I thought I could start over, may be using the same posts but better pictures and a little better content. Sticking to things I know. This blogging world has definitely been work, and now unfortunately I have more work ahead of me!
Did you buy the book yet? It’s so so good, I know you’ll love reading Jess’s advice :)
Thank you so much for this post! It felt like you were speaking right to me. I’m going through this right along side you as I have a 10 month old and have been trying to find myself again with now being a mom. I can’t wait tjust get my hands on this book or for your meal planning post! I’m working on that too ๐
Becca
This post encouraged ME and I wrote the book. :) Thank you for showing that intentionality doesn’t have to be complicated. xo
Awesome thoughts!! I think the biggest struggle for me and my friends though, is that many of our husbands are just not encouraging of us taking time for ourselves. They push us to do so much in terms of housekeeping and baby care stuff, with really little regard for how much we have on our plates (and trust me…we ask them to help!) I have one friend whose son is FOUR and her husband refuses to watch him at night EVER so she can have a night out with the girls! I’m reading the book now and there are definitely some good suggestions, it’s just hard when husbands are SO opposed to their wives taking time for themselves.
Oh that sounds so hard. Maybe there is some time in the evenings or early morning to spend a little time on yourself (while still at home)? I know at night I’m often so tired that I don’t even want to go out. And I know it’s not as simple as me offering a suggestion so I’ll be praying for you guys <3
What podcasts do you like to listen to??
Elise Gets Crafty, Dave Ramsey & Hope*ologie