Month: April 2021

Spring Cleaning Your Life

What if we treated spring cleaning as an opportunity to freshen up everything in our lives?

As the spring comes barreling in with cherry blossoms in bloom and gardens beckoning, it’s a time to freshen everything up a bit. There’s a reason that we all crave an intensely deep clean and purge session this time of year. The mustiness of winter needs to be replaced with wide opened windows and the smell of clean laundry. However, there may be even more than your house needing a little love right now, and if that’s true, my words are for you.

What if we treated spring cleaning as an opportunity to freshen up everything in our lives – our physical and mental health, our relationships, even our passions and plans?

It can be a brutal process; one that gets messier and harder before you come through the other side, but isn’t that when all the beautiful things in life happen? After the hard work and a big mess? (I mean, our closet clean outs aren’t a thing of beauty until the final hanger is in place.) 

We are knee deep in the mess that comes with detoxing and we were in need of an escape. <Insert our runaway to Florida here>

While soaking in the Vitamin D, we decided to have those big, messy conversations. I highly recommend doing this in the sunshine; you’ll by far less likely to become defensive, cranky, or negative. The other key here is to dedicate quality time to these big-life conversations. Hire a babysitter, leave the kids with grandparents, and then book a hotel for the night. The time together will help you spring clean your relationship in more aspects than talking, ha! 

With the discussions typically comes a few emotional breakdowns. This is all part of the process. Get in a good workout and treat yourself to a massage or facial (DIY style or at the spa). Your puffy eyes will be gone, and you’ll use the solo time to process anything and everything still needing processed. 

What We Conquered While ‘Freshening Up’

Fresh Sheets

There comes a time in adulthood when you need to pull the trigger and upgrade your sleeping situation. A crisp new sheet set may be a great idea – or you can go big and replace that old mattress and bed frame, too. (Jump over to Casper for an amazing mattress and Article for a beautiful frame.)

Fresh Food

Whole food eating has always been our way of life, but we are focusing on adding in more wild caught fish and removing/limiting the all-day snacking. 

Fresh Mindset

This one is hard for me. I’m still struggling with it long after the initial conversation. We are dedicated to healing and happiness, and I’ll be the first to admit that my negativity (How can we do this? It’s too hard. How can we afford it? Why is XYZ happening?) has got to go. While it is triggered by very valid points, it does not help anything. God continues to provide us with answers when we need them most. I believe he does the same for you, too. 

We are all smart, capable, and deserving people. A fresh mindset (if you, too, are in need of one) may be the first step in aiding the next step of your journey.

If you are not confident in your actions, dreams, and abilities, your end goals will always seem out of reach. 

Can you tell that I needed a pep talk? 

So here I sit, in my freshly cleaned house, on my new bed, not stressing over the basement flooring choices (actually, I just let John pick and walked away from that decision), not freaking out over the laundry list of things we want to accomplish in the next 18 months (and how it will get done), but instead – I am enjoying my tea and choosing to believe (to know) that it will all work out wonderfully. 

A Childhood as Sweet and Slow as American Honey

Where…

“Strong love grows
She grew up good
She grew up slow
Like American honey.

Steady as a preacher
Free as a weed
Couldn’t wait to get going
But wasn’t quite ready to leave
So innocent, pure and sweet
American honey.”

I’ve had too much on my mind lately. I needed an out. We were all a bit burned out and over the cold, the masked-craziness still occurring in NOVA, a solid year of school work, our health issues, and all the updates we are making to the house. 

I needed a change of scenery and a reminder that breathing is a necessity.

As we spent over 16 hours in the car driving down the east coast to escape our reality that is still happening in Northern Virginia, the kids listened to music, audiobooks, and watched movies thanks to the unlimited wifi we opted for to use in just such road trip occasions. I realized just how ‘privileged’ this is – and I wondered if I was doing the kids wrong by granting this luxury.

Then I laughed and laughed and laughed as I knew my own sanity needs to be valued, too.

Balance, it’s important.

We arrived at our first Florida location and unpacked our suitcases and backpacks of ‘school items.’ (We homeschool year-round with long breaks in the summer and 2-3 breaks throughout the year for road trips, but we still bring books, some math, and anything needed for any online classes that are being completed during that time.) Scarlett completed her 6th grade history project, the boys finished their books, and everyone picked out a few new games. We enjoyed family time, more board games, and running around outside in that beautiful warmth known as the Florida Sunshine. 

One afternoon on our trip, while sitting outside reading a book, American Honey started playing. I looked up to see my kids, especially the oldest jumping in and out of the pool – sun-kissed and laughing so hard she had tears pouring out of her eyes. My tears came, but not from laughter. I was brought back to my own childhood and saw just how special my own children’s lives are during this small chapter of their own lives. They are growing up slow. While mature beyond most of their peers, they are innocent and naïve, even. It’s absolutely the reason we chose to homeschool – and it’s paying off. 

Beyond homeschooling though, there’s so much more. Our children do not know social media; Daddy says HELL NO to makeup, wedges, and crop tops; they will not have cell phones for years to come. Our children will be behind their peers in so many ways – but FREE in so many others. They know how to explore. They will continue to explore well passed the tween years. They would rather swim, run, roller blade, and create than sit – and sit – and sit. 

Why am I sharing this? Because your kids deserve an American Honey childhood, too. It’s never too late to find a better balance. Kick them outside. Make them make friends. Host sleepovers. LET THEM BE BORED.

No kid is in a race to having their first kiss or shaving their legs – no tween needs a social media presence. There are such bigger things in life worth striving for — like a long, slow childhood.

Grant your children this.