I get a little thoughtful when reaching the end of a year. A long time ago, the new year seemed to stretch ahead, long and waiting to present new possibilities. In my adulthood, I began to see the new year as the beginning of a race. I have to make life happen. I learned that possibilities don’t just present themselves. I have to be the agent of change or renewal or maintenance. I learned that a year flies by in a blink and I have to chase it down.
This year, I decided to try to turn the race into a stroll. Being a parent, more than anything, has shown me that life can just slip away so quickly that we can forget all the sweet nothings. I want to experience them, wallow in them, soak. I don’t want to race, rush and run. I want to experience, savor, and remember. My resolution, no, my INTENTION for 2016 is to slow down and simplify.
I am a better mother, a better wife, a better person, when I can simplify. I have decided to believe that all the other things will fall into place if I can learn to simplify. When I’m not rushing, I have time to cook nourishing foods and eat with awareness so no need for diets. When I set a sustainable pace, I have time to use all the great parenting techniques I’ve been reading about. When I’m not in a hurry, I can sit and play with my kids and keep my house in order. I find my patience and my true center. I get to relish all the good stuff I’ve been accumulating with all my hard work instead of breezing past it all in my rush to be somewhere else.
So what does this actually mean in practice?
For one, I’m getting rid of lots of STUFF. My garage is pregnant with the products of my purge. I will have a garage sale for some, and donate the rest. My closets are becoming useful again, my spaces open and ready for action.
I also want to think ahead and help my kids anticipate changes in season and in the natural rhythms of the earth. I feel like I have become so removed from those simple markers of time. When will the sun set? Are the days getting shorter or longer? When is the moon full?
AND I’m paring down our schedule. I don’t want to be constantly BUSY. The process of getting ready to be somewhere and getting there consumes so much of our lives. I want to have moments of nothing to do, nowhere to be. I want to ask my kids “What should we do now?” a lot more often than I have been. I want to use those moments to teach about being home, and nurturing a home.
I hope this intention will bear fruit. I hope I can get this year to seem like less of a blur. My goal for 2016 is simply to simplify.
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