I feel like I am living this….Everything around me is running a zillion miles an hour and I HATE that lifestyle with a PASSION…and find myself, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes consciously, rejecting this lifestyle. Things speed up around me and I often find a way to slow things down without even trying…many times unconsciously.
That go-go-go lifestyle that is so common in our culture? EX.HAUSTS.ME. I want a slower lifestyle, and I am so exhausted from fighting our culture and the tendency to keep piling everything on top of everything. Even in homeschooling!
Many days, I would rather just stay home and veg.
And we do.
Don’t get me wrong…there are plenty of things out of the house that I want to do…travel, explore nature, have fun with friends/family, that sort of thing…I am not a total homebody.
I just prefer a slower pace.
My family is much like me. They would rather stay home and veg, or create things or enjoy a lazy day together. NOT run all over the place every friggin day!
I’m so tired from fighting this lifestyle…to keep things off of OUR schedule, and hoping friends will find time in THEIR busy schedules for us. Even among homeschoolers it’s quite common.
As homeschoolers we have the opportunity to slow down and let our kids set the pace (I suppose some kids would set a hectic pace, but I tend to think most kids would not, if given the chance…) and yet so many homeschoolers continue our culture’s break-neck speed, just with home education instead. I suppose if that works for them, more power to them.
For our family, we’ll pick and choose our activities very sparingly, as we feel inclined. We are not hermits, we do like to get out and about.
I am turning 46 in less than a month and am in the throes of perimenopause and all the ups and downs of hormones, so I am finding that I don’t deal as well with all these threats to our family peace as I used to. I’ve become the grumpy one…wishing the world would slow down and enjoy life more.
I just started a homeschool field trip business, “Tina’s Adventures” to host field trips for homeschoolers in the Central Valley, CA… and that will be a lot of fun, I think, because I can pick and choose all the destinations that I want our family to experience…I will be the one in control of the schedule and destinations. This works for me. And I can get my kids and husband involved in the decision making so it works for them. Seemed like a good way to get us out more, yet on OUR terms, vs being pulled in multiple directions by all the stuff going on around us. I can create the life I want, and invite people along (and make some much-needed money in the process!) 🙂
I listened to a podcast recently and one of the hosts talked about her “Year of Nope“. Just saying no to things, to keep her family’s schedule manageable. Yep, that’s my life. Not just a year of it…I think I’ve done this always. Not always consciously. But I have 4 people in my family (every single one of us), that just don’t like to be BUSY all the time. I don’t think it’s healthy, and I just hate it. Short stints of it when necessary, sure…but not as a lifestyle. NOPE.
I reject that reality and substitute my own, slower pace.
2 Comments
I agree. Absolutely. We just had a brief period of a week of being super-busy with 3 birthdays one after the other, a weekend away, a musical performance, and an interview, all falling within 4 days of each other. Even though we enjoyed the trip away once we got there, but it felt too hectic, too many time deadlines, and of course all the things to get ready before you go away (little difference between three nights away and a couple of weeks in terms of packing) then all the things to sort out when you get back. I know some people live like this every day of their lives, but it’s not for me. Or us. No thank you. We’ll keep simple (some might say boring, we say calm) and keep our sanity too.
I feel ya. I constantly tell my DH that I get tired of being a salmon swimming upstream against the cultural norms, but it’s just in my nature. Good for you for declaring that you want something else; life on your own terms. 🙂