How I’m returning to a simpler life

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While its a tough ask to find silver linings right now amidst such uncertainty and sadness, it’s important that we remember to regularly take ourselves out of our negative feelings.

It’s OK to feel all the feels. It’s also OK to put them on pause and rise out of our distress to reflect on the beauty and abundance that surrounds us.

Returning to familiarity provides us with a sense of calm and wellbeing. Rewatching a familiar movie, baking a family favourite with the kids, re-reading your favourite novel.

It is this familiarity that right now is providing me some solace. The feeling that we are going back to basics. Back to when things seemed simpler. Back to when I was a child.

I was fortunate to grow up in the 80’s. Walls plastered with ripped pages from magazines, cassette decks and tapes, home baking, sewing for fun and creating in the nooks and crannies of life as a matter of course.

I hadn’t thought much of it until now. But. This busy life has gotten me to a point in life where I was exhausted. Constantly. The pressures of life, work, kids, being the best you could be, doing more, being more, always striving for the next level.

I’ve been practising yoga and mindfulness for a number of years now. It’s helped. It’s allowed me to take moments of calm. But. It’s also been used as an antidote. An antidote to the life I was living. That we were all living. It was done to alleviate the stress and physical strain of daily life. It was a remedy.

The past week has been a bit of an eye opener. I’ve felt a shift in my core. A shift in my mind and in my body.

We’ve cooked all meals from home. We’ve planned as a family our shopping and our dinners. I’ve known what was in the cupboards and also known that the next shop was a week away at the least. I’ve had teenagers hanging out with me in my room talking for an hour.

We haven’t driven our cars. We have stayed in our own neighbourhood. No cafes, no coffees, no sushi.

I’ve felt a hint of familiarity with all of this. A realisation that it’s taken me back to when I was younger. When we had no internet. When we made our own fun. When we watched tv without guilt. When we spent our Sunday afternoons sewing or baking or drawing. Because the shops were SHUT!

When we had to be bored. When we wrote poetry, journalled our thoughts and created photo collages on our bedroom walls.

When we allowed ourselves to slow down. To simply BE. To be in our moments and enjoy the pace.

While I have certainly had my moments of anxiety these past few weeks. I have also had an overwhelming sense of calm and centredness. I’ve felt a steady unravelling happening in both my mind and my heart. A reconnection to my soul and to my passions and purpose.

Is it a shit situation? Hell yes!

Can we learn and grow from this? Absolutely.

Kia kaha xxx 💛