Have you ever heard of the blog Live Free Creative Co? If you haven’t you need to go check it out. I stumbled upon Miranda on Instagram back at the beginning of January (I have this addiction to finding/following inspirational and creative people on Instagram; I am not a creator at all! But I am a pro at copying the ideas of others and making them my own). She is a genius with a sewing machine, she’s hilarious, absolutely adorable in her InstaStories, and the dang cutest mother I have ever seen! Her family did a minimalist challenge where they spent ONE WHOLE YEAR without spending money (I mean of course they spent money on the essentials, but no extras). That is something I can really look up to. I am not a crazy spender, and my husband really does tone me down and helps me rein in my spending (thanks babe!), but that is just not something that sounds fun to me. However, she has amazing stories about learning to love what you have and getting creative with re-purposing things for multiple uses.
A week ago Miranda did an email course called Five Days To Freedom. Each day she sent an email outlining a different topic on choosing less stuff and more adventure in our lives.
“I want to help you train yourself to see the abundance that already exists in your life, feel more grateful, satisfied, and happy. Because, I do believe that most of us want to live with more gratitude, patience, contentment, and incredible memories from the life experiences we have.”
I signed up thinking that the emails would be fun reads (because seriously this girl is so incredibly CA-UTE!), but I really didn’t think that this five day course would be so mind changing.
Like I said, each day had a different topic:
Lesson 1: RECOGNIZE AND ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ABUNDANCE
Lesson 2: FIVE STEPS TO ORGANIZATION AND MAKING SPACE FOR WHAT MATTERS
Lesson 3: CHOOSE DAILY MESSAGING AND ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY DECISIONS
Lesson 4: DEFINE EXPERIENCES YOU LOVE AND SCHEDULE THEM IN
Lesson 5: CREATIVITY AS AN ANTIDOTE TO CONSUMERISM
I thoroughly loved and have read and reread all of these emails (I want to print them out so I can highlight, take notes and keep them where I can remind myself these principles all the time); but lesson four really struck a chord within me. [Quick note: this is an ongoing course, at anytime you can go to her blog and sign up for these emails (link below). I HIGHLY encourage it!]
In lesson four she talks about an A-HA moment she had:
“In 2013 I was sitting in the keynote address at a big blogging conference. The speaker said something that made me sit up and lean in. He said, ‘If you want to be more happy, you need to do more of what you like!’”
I know, it seems so simple. Of course we should do more of what we like. This is our life, we get to choose. But somehow I had gotten so tangled up in the ‘shoulds’ and ‘ought to’s’, I had forgotten that ultimately I have the freedom to choose where to spend my time, money, energy, and resources. I get to choose!
The real question, then, was ‘WHAT DO I LIKE?’ ”
She went on to pose some questions:
When was a time recently that you felt blissfully happy? What were you doing then?
If you could spend an afternoon doing anything at all (with money as no object), what would you choose?
When you were a child, what were your favorite hobbies or experiences?
If all social media was eliminated, what things would you do, just for you
I was laying in bed, it was sometime close to midnight, because that’s just how we roll in our house, reading the email on my phone. I just layed there staring at these questions (specifically the first one) for a good little while; these are seemingly easy questions to answer, yet I didn’t have a single answer. I kept going over and over in my mind all the things that make me happy:
When a favorite song of #LivyLu’s comes on and she does her cute little butt wiggle with her arms up in the air shouting “This is my fav-ow-ite song!” in between singing the random lines of the song that she knows.
When #ClaraBelle looks for colored pencils under the couch she gets down on her hands and knees with her little bum high in the air, and her chubby little arms desperately reaching and searching for anything. Then when she finally finds one (she somehow always finds a pencil or pen) she runs and finds the first thing she can to color on (a reading book, a cook book I accidently left within her reach, cardboard boxes, etc.). She has a new found love for coloring and she gets so proud of herself (seriously that smile makes me so happy).
After the girls go to bed and Adam has five minutes to devote to just #OBoy, they talk, laugh and play together. Is there anything better than watching a baby coo and talk with his daddy?
And when my girls reenact the Olympics (we are obsessed!). The girls will sit on the kitchen floor and pretend to put on helmets then “bobsled” by scooting around on their bums as fast as they can, then they will jump up and shout “We are going for the gold!” And when we watch figure skating (my personal favorite) they run around our little living room (usually bumping into each other causing them to fall to the ground in a pile of laughter) doing twists, and leaps (be still my heart).
When my day ends and it is completely quiet and I get to snuggle with #OBoy and watch him as he slowly drifts off into happy milk drunk sleep.
There are just so many moments that make me happy as a mother I could never share them all. And Adam makes me so happy, he really is my best friend. For his birthday a few weeks ago we went laser tagging (something I totally thought I would not enjoy) but it was a BLAST! We couldn’t stop laughing and while I thought I was running to keep up with him, he says he was running to keep up with me! For our anniversary we sat on the living room floor surrounded by a delicious spread of cheese fondue and dippers. For two hours we talked about silly things (anything from whats on our bucket list to our top grossest smells), and that conversation could have easily carried on all night, except it was late and we do like our sleep. My life is full of so many happy moments, but when I think about things I do just for me that make me “blissfully happy”, I really couldn’t answer that on my own; in fact I had to ask Adam to help me think of something.
All my life I dreamed of being the wife to my best friend (Check!) and becoming a mother to the world’s cutest kiddos (Check! Check! Check!). But if you are in a situation anything like mine (stay at home mom who devotes all her time, energy and love to her family), then maybe you are feeling a little unfulfilled like I am. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE MY JOB! This is the life I want, struggles, frustrations, exhaustion and all. I really do love my life, but sometimes I feel like Ariel singing to myself, “I want more!”
Miranda continues in her email: “During the last year, as we focused on choosing less stuff and more adventures, the whole culture of our family changed. We spent more time, energy, and resources on the things that we love than ever before, and as a result feel more close to each other, invested in our own wellness, and excited about our life than ever before. We stopped making excuses and started making things happen. And we love it.”
For the past three years I have treated all my time as though I need to devote it all to my family (whether that’s cleaning, getting on the floor to play with kiddos, running errands, cooking, etc.). This is my job, being a wife, homemaker and mother. The perfectionist inside of me tells me that I always have things to improve on and more to do to make my family happy. True, that’s undeniable. But what is also true is that no one can work a 24/7 job without any breaks or taking time to focus on themself. I occasionally do yoga, I love crafting, baking and I love window shopping, but usually I involve my family in on those things. And while that’s a great thing, I need something for me! Not saying I need to be selfish and completely exclude my family from this activity, but I need to do something that make me “blissfully happy” and speaks to my soul.
So to anyone who is reading this, this is my call to you. First, I HIGHLY encourage you sign up for the Five Days To Freedom emails (again, link below). Second, do more of what makes you “blissfully happy”. I have a long way to go on this, and personally I have some mental blocks I need to work around before I can really start to find my inner happiness.
I hope more than anything that you don’t forget yourself. I know I have. I have given up so much of my life (and for good reasons with no regrets) so I can be a mother; but there comes a time when in order to keep being a mother who is full of love, patience and the energy to serve, I need to fill my own cup.
Please don’t forget yourself. Do more of what makes you happy. And adapt Miranda’s life motto of creating more “adventures” in your daily life.
Now GO FOLLOW MIRANDA!
http://livefreecreative.co/2018/02/five-days-freedom-tips-choosing-less-stuff-adventure-daily-life/
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