Slow Month ~ Week 1

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this week! It helped that the sun made an appearance several times. But really, it was so freeing to not have activities dictate our days.

We did start off the week with an art class field trip. This was the one activity we kept on the calendar, partly due to the fact that I had already paid for it and partly due to the fact that we were all looking forward to it.

But the rest of the week we had no scheduled activities other than the karate lessons we take as a family on Monday nights.

So what did we do with ourselves?

School

Started a new read-aloud book

baked pumpkin muffins

went for a couple 3 miles walks

skyped with our cousins

skyped with our friends

made a pot of homemade cheesy potato broccoli soup

took many photographs

 practiced karate daily

practiced violin daily (not the quick, 5-minute practices we'd gotten used to)

  danced

built forts

One morning we even spent an hour reading our own books. I didn't plan this, it just happened and it was glorious. My youngest joined me on the couch in the living room, and my oldest cozied up in a blanket on the futon. Normally, I would have put a stop to this leisure so we could get ready to go somewhere or get started with school. Instead, we were able to just take some time to read.

It really was a revelation to me that I could live the life I wanted to live. I don't have to complain to others that we are busier than we like to be. I have complete control over how busy we are. If I want to slow our lives down, then I have to cut down on activities. It might sound like sacrifice, but it really is freedom. When sharing with others I even had people thank me for setting an example. Give yourself permission to slow down.

I can't wait to see what next today - and even next week - brings!