When was the last time you were awestruck by everyday life? If you are like me, not as often as you should be. I've let the busy of life take hold of me, and I'm constantly running to keep up. I'm out of breath and exhausted, peeps. Not exactly the life I wanted to be living when I quit my full-time job two years ago in order to savor more moments with my two precious hooligans. Where exactly did I go off course?
Back during Advent 2016 I was reading Rediscover Jesus by Matthew Kelly and pushing myself to grow a bit during the season. A few pages in I came to this, "When is the last time you were awestruck by Jesus? Why is it that we won't allow ourselves to be awestruck by Jesus anymore?"
Wow. Those two lines rocked my world. I used to be a girl that delighted in nature walks, a warm cup of coffee, dinner around the table, baking, family game night, Saturday morning snuggles with the hooligans, Christmas movies, farmers markets, the music at mass, libraries, a good book, picnics, the free summer movies, singing in the car, the pool, soft falling snowflakes, outdoor concerts, everything autumn, a pretty door wreath, bunting for every season, Main Street #fabFortville strolls, family celebrations...really the simple joys of life. Lately, I'm just going through the motions of life. I'm not savoring the simple.
Somewhere along the way, I got too focused on work, and more work - too focused on content, likes, follows, website hits, analytics and growth of my blog. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love what I do within my freelance career, and I've loved my blog. I so adore storytelling for clients and helping them have rockstar online presences. I love a good social campaign, influencer events and PR. I even love the analytics and reporting part. I thrive on it all, but somewhere along the way I lost the balance. Those little notifications and blinks on my phone overtook my life in horrible ways.
Something had to be done and quick. A little something an co-worker once said to me kept playing in my head, "You only have so many summers with your kids. Are you making them count?" How old are you kids right now? Mine are 8 and 12. I have 10 summers with one, and I am down to 8 with the other, until they are on their way to their next chapters in the college years.
It's taken me six months to figure out what to do - how to rally and take back my life and make it what I want it to be and start working to savor the simple moments more. I want to be awestruck. I want to find the delightful in the everyday adventures (and I don't want to HAVE to write about it). It all began with a little "garden weeding." Taking inventory and deciding what had to go. Oh, and leaving that blinking phone home sometimes.
I've let some of my client load go. Oh my was that hard too. I love them all, and I love to help people. I'm being super careful with the yeses I give to commitments. My wise sister once told me, "Every yes you give is a no to something else." She is absolutely right. Sometimes those yeses are a no to your family time, your sanity and those gorgeous delight-struck moments that feed your soul.
Lastly in my quest for balance, I am passing the baton on my beloved blog Fortville Mama to Ashley Thomas, who has been there with me since the beginning, as my fellow Fortville Mama. It's time. The journey has been so fun, but I'm ready for a new chapter. A quieter one with more work/life balance. More time to chase those delight-struck moments. More time to savor the moments with my hooligans and Coach Man.
From time to time, I may blog here, but only when the mood strikes me. In the meantime, we are off to new adventures - homeschooling, more Midwest travel and eyes wide open for those simple delight-struck moments.
I challenge all of you to chase those moments in your own life too. They do a soul good.
Back during Advent 2016 I was reading Rediscover Jesus by Matthew Kelly and pushing myself to grow a bit during the season. A few pages in I came to this, "When is the last time you were awestruck by Jesus? Why is it that we won't allow ourselves to be awestruck by Jesus anymore?"
Wow. Those two lines rocked my world. I used to be a girl that delighted in nature walks, a warm cup of coffee, dinner around the table, baking, family game night, Saturday morning snuggles with the hooligans, Christmas movies, farmers markets, the music at mass, libraries, a good book, picnics, the free summer movies, singing in the car, the pool, soft falling snowflakes, outdoor concerts, everything autumn, a pretty door wreath, bunting for every season, Main Street #fabFortville strolls, family celebrations...really the simple joys of life. Lately, I'm just going through the motions of life. I'm not savoring the simple.
Somewhere along the way, I got too focused on work, and more work - too focused on content, likes, follows, website hits, analytics and growth of my blog. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love what I do within my freelance career, and I've loved my blog. I so adore storytelling for clients and helping them have rockstar online presences. I love a good social campaign, influencer events and PR. I even love the analytics and reporting part. I thrive on it all, but somewhere along the way I lost the balance. Those little notifications and blinks on my phone overtook my life in horrible ways.
Something had to be done and quick. A little something an co-worker once said to me kept playing in my head, "You only have so many summers with your kids. Are you making them count?" How old are you kids right now? Mine are 8 and 12. I have 10 summers with one, and I am down to 8 with the other, until they are on their way to their next chapters in the college years.
It's taken me six months to figure out what to do - how to rally and take back my life and make it what I want it to be and start working to savor the simple moments more. I want to be awestruck. I want to find the delightful in the everyday adventures (and I don't want to HAVE to write about it). It all began with a little "garden weeding." Taking inventory and deciding what had to go. Oh, and leaving that blinking phone home sometimes.
I've let some of my client load go. Oh my was that hard too. I love them all, and I love to help people. I'm being super careful with the yeses I give to commitments. My wise sister once told me, "Every yes you give is a no to something else." She is absolutely right. Sometimes those yeses are a no to your family time, your sanity and those gorgeous delight-struck moments that feed your soul.
Lastly in my quest for balance, I am passing the baton on my beloved blog Fortville Mama to Ashley Thomas, who has been there with me since the beginning, as my fellow Fortville Mama. It's time. The journey has been so fun, but I'm ready for a new chapter. A quieter one with more work/life balance. More time to chase those delight-struck moments. More time to savor the moments with my hooligans and Coach Man.
From time to time, I may blog here, but only when the mood strikes me. In the meantime, we are off to new adventures - homeschooling, more Midwest travel and eyes wide open for those simple delight-struck moments.
I challenge all of you to chase those moments in your own life too. They do a soul good.
I love this and wish you well in this next adventure! Here's to being careful what we say YES to and to those every day opportunities to be struck by delight. Can't wait to follow along!
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