Well, school has started!
And with it comes that steady pace of routine and schedules. I've never been one who longs for Fall ---- call me crazy. Sure I love me some cute boot socks and leggings with an overcast day, but Summer is where my heart will always want to be. I love the warm long evenings, the relaxed days and that shoes are optional most days! I do like routine, but with Fall comes the mad rush of schedules, looming Holiday busyness and checklists.
While I actually like all of those things individually, I tend to want to hold onto summer just a little bit longer. Can we just have one more evening of Popsicles and swimming until bedtime?
But see I don't think it's the amount of extra "stuff" that comes in the fall that we aren't ready for, it's the busyness.
So I think the freeing reality that I have to remember is we don't
have to be busy all the time. I think there are seasons where life is just crazy and some things are outside our control. Doctors appointments, family situations, moves and school, whatever. But other times we
can control how busy we decide to be and yet we still tend to be WAY over scheduled than we want -- we continue to make the same decisions and sign up for more and more activities. I think in my opinion it's a combination of things both from ourselves and our culture that makes us act this way.
First, for whatever reason in (some) of our minds busyness = success. Our American culture is definitely a fast paced achievement oriented culture. It didn't take us long traveling to other countries to see this. I think there is some benefit to this. When I've worked hard all day and got things done it's a great feeling. And while I don't think we should be sitting around watching TV all day doing nothing with our lives - I think there is a trap in this busyness. We are enticed to be busy and fill our schedules because we don't want to feel "inferior" to someone else's lifestyle or accomplishments. Even a simple question of "What did you do today?" can leave us feeling embarrassed or some even ashamed if we don't have "things" to show for our day. But I think there is so much unnecessary stress and chaos we make in our own lives by packing it to the brim. What if you did stay home all day and play with your kids? Or take coffee to the park and watch them play? Or have dinner at home around the table every night? This doesn't mean you're unimportant it may just mean you have a better view of your own capacity and a better view of your family's capacity.
I remember growing up we had dinner at home almost every night. Sometimes I look at my past week, or past month and see the millions of directions we were running and wondered why we didn't just STOP and say no. Problem #1 is that both my husband and I are very social lol. If there is something happening and we were invited to it we want to be there. In my family we call this
FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out, and we both definitely have it. So we often have to remind each other, we don't HAVE to go to x,y,z. It's ok so say we just need want to be home.
And it's not even being home or not being home. I really believe you can be hiding away at home away from all social contact and still have a demeanor of chaos lol. One of my favorite quotes is
"Life is Not an Emergency". I so often put completely unnecessary stress on my kids and then consequently myself by over committing to things. Then I'm running around like a crazy scary mommy yelling "Put your shoes on!!! We're Late!! Hurry!" We're in a hurry because I decided we had to be involved in some event that I knew started too early and would be a stress on everyone. Now everyone's in a bad mood by something completely avoidable.
But then secondly I think we sometimes choose the wrong things to be engaged in. We start to feel the need for
rest because we're losing it and we pull out of things that
fill us instead of those draining us. Obviously we can't pull out of every instance that drains us. School, work, doctors appointments these things can't always go BUT other things often can. Our kids don't have to be involved in every sport, dance, gymnastics, etc. that's absolutely a lie I try to remind myself when I feel like my kids are "missing out"! If you have the capacity for those activities do it ! If you don't then don't compare to others kids and just do what works for your family. When you think of things that FILL you (maybe it's time with your little family, small groups or bible studies, going on walks, hobbies) don't make those the first to go because you've over scheduled on things that could have gone.
I'm not writing this to you as I am to myself too! Praying our Autumn season is full of wonderful things like Rest and community and being able to slowwwww down and soak up precious moments.
