simple

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10? 20?

As a stay-at-home-mom I have a lot of reflection time, sometimes too much. I think a lot about the future. What life will be like when Kyle is done with school and where we will decide to settle or will we settle? Maybe we will wander, traveling the globe with our kids, exposining them to all the world has to offer...

I think about how my home will look and what we will do as a family each night (board games.)

Then I started thinking about how I will think. Mind boggling I know.

How do I want to view my world?

It's so easy to get caught up in the material things we want out of life. We are a visual people and usually the easiest target in visuals are material possessions. But I want to change how I view my life, I want to change the focus from possessions to feelings.

The conclusion I came to with how I want my life to feel when I am older.

Simple.

I want a simple life. I don't want to get caught up in to-do lists and the latest fashion trends. Yes, I want to look and feel beautiful but I want to do it simply. I want my memories to be filled not with exotic trips to Costa Rica or lavish parties but with moments of my family laughing. I want so many laughter filled moments that they blur together in my mind and I can't separate them. I don't want to care about fancy things. I want to enjoy the world God created and relish in the simplicity of a summer hike. A winter hike too for that matter!

I want to enjoy the meals that I make and not get upset over mistakes or strive to use exotic ingredients.

I want to expand my worldview but I want to do it in a way that overcomes the materialism that too easily comes with life.

How did I get to this conclusion?

Well it started with looking at our budget in life currently and at first being devastatingly sad about. The reality is that we cannot afford a caramel apple spice from starbucks, even if I feel like I deserve it. The reality is that even shopping at Goodwill is too expensive. Then I had the thought. Why do I have to be sad about having a strict budget?

I don't.

If there is one thing my women studies minor taught me is that we have a right to claim how we feel and to divert from the norm of how society says we should feel.

Society tells me I should be awfully sad about having such a strict budget and that I should just find ways around it, to cheat the system and go into a little debt.

Well to the norm I say:

"TOO BAD!"

I'm going to live simply and I am going to learn to love it (besides I've never really been normal anyways)