I feel like I’ve been moving in slow motion the last couple of weeks. All of that preparation for Christmas followed by a lazy week off of school for the kids during which they both had colds so we lived in our jammies for the most part. Mornings were slow and easy. Days went by quickly, filled with fun being had with all of our new toys.
Then the new year arrived. I was snoring when the clock struck midnight. The kids went back to school and the transition was smooth for all of us. I have spent this week thinking a lot about the new year and what it will bring for me and my family. The past few years my thoughts have been along the lines of “Maybe this year we’ll find the right house” and then “Maybe this year we’ll have a kitchen and bedrooms” and “Maybe this year we’ll all have our own rooms and the house will be done”. Well, since that time has come, I am left thinking things like “Maybe this year, I will just enjoy things as they are”. And so far, I am. I don’t want to get organized this year. I don’t want to lose 10 pounds this year. I don’t want to overhaul any of the rooms in my house or take on any large tasks. I am sure there will be organizing along the way and there will be lots of exercise and eating healthy and there will be projects around the house because I enjoy them and not because we need them.
What I want this year to be about is living in and loving the beauty of the ordinary days. I am going to relax about toys because I have small kids and they are part of our ordinary. When my hubby gets home from a long day and the kids are climbing on him and telling him stories at a mile a minute and I see him start to get frustrated because he can’t find a moment of peace and he starts to say they are driving him crazy, I say “Because they are acting like kids? They are kids. Let them act like kids.” I am going to tell myself this about everything this year. I am going to be kinder and more graceful to myself and about my surroundings. I am going to soak up the beautiful ordinary of life as we know it right now in this stage. Because soon it will be gone. I will miss toys in the sink, I will miss when my kids wanted to talk to me. I will miss the sounds of right now. So I want to appreciate and be thankful for them.
Whatever each day brings, I will be embracing the beauty of the ordinary.
good for you, girl!
We are still very much in ‘maybe this year we will….’ phase of life – I look forward to the day that I can bask in the beautiful ordinary!
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i’ve been thinking about this concept. I have not taken a picture since Monday. Everything seems so ordinary. Like I have already taken that picture. I am thinking that I need to see ordinary in a new way.
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Sounds like a good plan!
Happy New Year.
-FringeGirl
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What a wonderful resolution for the new year! I’ve been thinking a lot about less doing, more being in the coming year and actively simplifying some areas of my life to make more room for the “being” part of that equation. Here’s to living and loving every minute of the day-to-day chaos that is life with a seven-year-old boy.
)
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by remodelingthislife and Hank. Hank said: The Beautiful Ordinary http://bit.ly/gJMySF [...]
Because every day is EXTRAORDINARY!!! Happy 2011 to you: )
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What a nice idea. I’m planning on being happy this year! For me this will mean not worrying about the mess in our flat (made by us or our 15 month old son) and to enjoy being us. I agree with you that there will be a time when our children will not want to be with us or talk to us, so I too will try and make the most of it now! Happy New Year!
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so, so beautiful. thank you.
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Beautiful words. We need to be excited just to live our journey and enjoy it, even during the ordinary times. Happy new year blessings to you!
Bernice
Who controls your to-do list?
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It is easy to get caught up in striving too hard for goals that sometimes we forget to be present in the moment and enjoy what we already have.
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I wish there was a way to virtually jump up & down, because I love this post so very very much. (Now, me jumping up & down in real life is a little scary and unusual, so let’s just run with the virtual metaphor, shall we??)
exactly. EXACTLY!!!!!! is all I can say. When I reproach myself in the late night hours, it is because I have not softened myself to the point where I can let things be, where I can let them be kids, and celebrate that they are kids, instead of tolerate. I have not changed my perspective to the point where I can love my cosy house for what it is, imperfections be damned.
Emily this is one of my most favorite ones ever, and you’ve written some great posts.
Thanks.
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very well said!!! Happy New Year, Emily
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You said exactly what was in my heart, too. Happy 2011 and weekend to you!
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Well said Emily!
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My children are in their early teens now and already I am missing the times when I used to say to myself, ‘They’ll grow up soon, so hang on in there!’ We’ve got to savour every minute of their childhood for it will be over so soon, and all we’ll be left with are the treasured memories. And of course, the fantastic people we can proud of bringing up
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This is a great “list” for the new year! Awesome way to just enjoy life!!
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Nothing better than living in the moment of each day. That is one of my goals for this year.
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Lovely way to savor the everyday & what we do have! I always feel like resolutions keep us from truly enjoying what we already have! Have a perfectly functional house/room/car/thing that just isn’t quite new enough, pretty enough, or enough enough? Then make a resolution to change it even though there are people who would love ANY house/car/room/thing…. Yeah I think resolutions are silly…can you tell lol
Love this post! Xoxo
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Amen! Amen! and Amen! Kelly
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These are my New Year’s resolutions: 1. Make far more time for myself, i hardly have any? free time so… 2. Try to read and discover more about god’s words..meaning more reading the bible 3. Discover to let go of things which have happenend within the past… four. Study harder for this education only several months to go after which start a new education that is it… seems not significantly but for me it is, thank you for this video, and god bless you
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[...] think about the beautiful ordinary that I want to live in, love in and laugh in each day. When I think of my life as ordinary, it [...]
I call it happy mundane (http://www.everythingbutthesqueal.com/2009/04/happy-mundane-or-about-this-blog-and.html) , but whatever you call it, a (worthwhile) challenge worth taking. yoga, meditation, church all help me. Have you heard of cheerfulness meditation?
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Thanks so much for the great post. This is something that I’ve been trying to work on in my homelife, but to read it so artfully stated gives me inspiration.
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Emily, Ordinary is so beautiful! I had ordinary once and didn’t realize what I was missing till it was gone! Appreciate your husband and kids because it is hard to be ordinary without one of them. I say this because my ordinary life was changed when I lost my husband to Cancer in 2004. I feel blessed to have been able to experience ordinary and being given the chance to experience it once again!
Thank you again,
Becky Mc.
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