Since I’ve embraced the idea of homemaking as a great act of love instead of a burden, my focus has been making our home into one that is cozy and full of love and laughter. I no longer look at meal planning or cooking or even cleaning toilets as drudgery. I still hate cleaning toilets, but I’m not as resentful when I have to clean the toilet. This change in perspective has made all of these tasks into ones that I no longer resent or avoid, but rather ones that I tackle with zeal because I now know that these tasks are acts of love and care that I can give to my family by transforming our home into a peace filled space.
But, a change in mindset has also begun to lead me to want to learn things, and that is today’s topic. I want to embrace simple living, slow living, but it isn’t something I’ve been able to fully wrap my mind around yet, or figure out how to embrace.
Making Sourdough
I know this making sourdough is almost a homemaking trend, but I do think it’d be interesting to master making sourdough. I’m not a big bread eater, but my husband would love it if I would made sourdough. And I would really like to try my hand at making sourdough, even if it doesn’t become a staple in our house. The trouble is, the idea of making starter is a bit daunting and just not something I’m willing to tackle at this point. Maybe in the new year. But it’s exciting to have this as a goal.
Having a Slow Morning Routine
Life really changed for me in the fall when I started work full time again as my son headed off to kindergarten. I hadn’t worked full time since late 2020 and I wasn’t sure how I’d adjust, or how my little guy would react to his new reality of going to school every day. How would that impact us as a family? It wasn’t something I brought to the Lord a few times over the summer as the worries would pop up. And while I did adapt and have a morning routine, it’s not a slow morning routine. The routine is very much all about getting us out of the house with no crying or yelling and with everything we need. Which is great! But, it’s not centred in the way I want it to be. I want a routine where I can spend some time in prayer and so I have to find a way to modify my routine to include that time with the Lord.
Prioritizing My Bedroom
Having a bedroom that is peaceful and cultivating that space as one of rest and calmness is something I’ve been aspiring to for a while. I have de-cluttered the space and simplified my dresser and nightstand so there isn’t a lot of clutter or knick knacks, but something I’ve been wanting to do is to make sure that I make my bed every day. And I’m going to be honest, I do not make my bed. It’s not part of my morning routine. Partly because I want to streamline my morning and just get ready, but also because making my bed is such a chore. And let’s face it, a bedroom with an unmade bed isn’t exactly warm and calming. I did take some steps towards simplifying my bedding a while back so that making my bed would be a quicker task, but it wasn’t quite enough towards simplifying my bed making process, and that is something I really want to address so that the bed can get made.
Disconnecting from Social Media
This is a skill I do not have. I consume a lot of content from social media and Youtube and I really need to start disconnecting from it so that I can make better use of my time. This is a goal that I think will also allow me to acquire other homemaking skills and to claim back time in my life–time that I can spend with my family, or doing productive things or things I enjoy. I truly admire those who can unplug for weeks at a time and likely need to set that up as a challenge for myself.
Final Thoughts
Embracing a slower living lifestyle is definitely going to be a challenge in a lot of ways. But I do want to find ways to incorporate slower, simpler living into my life, and I do think it’s important to find ways to slow down in life because the world and its demands can really whip us into a whirlwind and we are not meant to live at high speed. So I do hope to both acquire some simple living skills, and find ways to live more simply and slowly over the next year or so.
Share your thoughts about simple living below!