Thursday, February 28, 2013

Shifting


About a month ago, while Justin and I were driving home from a community potluck, I started a conversation about our daily life. We have a pretty good rhythm in our home - mornings, meals, bed times are pretty good around here. The day to day chores get done. We get our nature connection in every day, even if that is just some time playing in the yard. But I still felt like we could be more productive, and find more time for both of our creative interests. So I suggested we sit down and come up with a schedule.

Justin and I are both home during the day. My days usually consist of hanging with Reece, we do our morning circle after breakfast and then usually get started on the activity of the day. Some days that activity is at home, some days it means we get in the car and go somewhere. We might be home for lunch and if not, I pack a lunch for us. The idea of the schedule was to create time in the day which would allow both Justin and I time to work (for me this consists of answering emails to clients, writing, working on protocols and reading blogs, if there is time) and therefore open up our evenings for other things we like to do. Often times once Reece is tucked in for the night I start work and Justin might head out to his workshop if he has something on the go. We both work away and hopefully find a few minutes at the end of the night to sit and relax and do something we enjoy...for me that might be knitting, needle felting or reading, for Justin watching TV or reading. We both wanted to have more time in the evenings, not just a few minutes at the end of a long day.

We sat down with the calendar, I put in a little time in the afternoon right before dinner preparations as my time. Justin took the mornings and early afternoons to be in his workshop. We worked our schedule around a few things that were already booked and stood back, a little excited to try it out.

Well we are now three weeks in and I am so pleased to say it is working like a charm and has had some surprising results. We have enjoyed the amount of time it has opened up for both of us. Before we kinda just went with the flow with our schedules, but knowing what time he is heading out to the workshop and when he will be done is great and knowing I get a little time to work in the afternoon while he and Reece get up to something, well I can't tell you how great that is. I have not done work during the day since Reece was born, so you can imagine the time it has opened up in my evenings. I love it! I couldn't actually believe how well it was working, and how much time it seemed to open up just by putting down on paper the time we needed and creating those boundaries. It created time we didn't know we had.

The time element has been huge, so huge in fact we have also re-evaluated a lot of other outside commitments and let go of a lot of stuff. I have enjoyed the "extra" time, just being and creating in our home and found myself not wanting to head out in the morning with Reece to our activities, but instead wanting to hang closer to home. I wanted to be in my space, our home, to enjoy this little place and the simple life it offers us. We took a good hard look at things we were involved in and weeded out those that either required too much of a commitment on our part right now or were just not fulfilling to our heart and soul.

We want to live simply, and yet somehow, little by little, we had taken on more than our little family could handle, and it didn't feel so simple any more. So we simplified. We let go. We took a step back. And we are feeling lighter, freer and happier.

We got caught up in the fast pace of life there for a bit, feeling like we had to do everything. And now, we are back in the slow lane and enjoying the much slower pace. I am really happy it didn't take us too long to figure it all out.

It has been a good shift, a really good shift.

19 comments:

  1. I am so happy it's all working out, Kim! Hurrah! Simplifying is deffo the way to go. Lighter, freer and happier just sounds so right :)

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  2. I love this post. I was just talking about this sort of thing with my brother, who is in Med school and is married with a small daughter. He was bemoaning not having enough time in the day and I suggested he really sit down and make a time budget. Often I feel like we can end up spending time on things that don't matter to us if we aren't more intentional about it. Great food for thought, especially for me right now. I am craving more time alone and need to find a way to make that a reality - yes, even in this house with 5 little ones!!

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    1. Thanks Lydia. That is exactly what happened to us, sitting down to set the intention of what we wanted to do with our time actually opened up time and made us more productive. Love it!

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  3. So happy to hear it! Amazing what putting something down paper can do really. I have often said I should schedule in a yoga class just for me. I think I will do it after our move.

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    1. Thanks KC! As soon as we return from down south I will scheduling in my runs, yoga and sit spot :)

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  4. I love this post, too! And will be sharing with one of my daughters, who has two little ones and a husband working crazy hours. She will appreciate this. As do I ~ I've been spinning my wheels the last two weeks, very busy but not 'productive' as I would like to be (for me this means creative all the way ~ housework is just a necessary evil and not a form of productivity in my world!) And I just had a conversation along these lines with my sister, lamenting my frustrations. Thanks so much for this! I'm really, really pleased that you are happy with the changes. :)

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    1. I'm glad you like it Paula, and I hope your daughter does too. It is amazing how we can seem busy but once you get things down on paper, and prioritize a little bit, time seems to open up. It has been a great experience for us.

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  5. Really enjoyed this post, and how the two of you creatively reorganized a jammed packed day. If left to my own devices I could be on the computer for hours. I set my own limits so I get other important stuff done.

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    1. Thanks Karen. I think we are all the same with the computer, setting limits is so important.

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  6. This schedule talk has been going on here as well. I feel like things are shifting here, but still am unsure what that means. I think we still need to let it 'stew' for a while before we work it out. It is so nice to hear others going through similar processes.

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    1. It is strange isn't it. It definitely felt strange to us. We still have things to work out, but we are on the right path because we are all feeling so much better. Good luck as you figure out what your shift is :)

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  7. Just what I needed to read - thank you for the post.
    Katie

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  8. Oh, so good to hear! So often people talk about decluttering their living space and yet they forget the most important part of that...the actual time spent in that space! We need to step back every once in a while and sort through what is working and what isn't. So very, very happy that this is working for you Kim!!

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    1. You are so right Jennifer, and taking the time to actually look at our time has been a wonderful experience that has brought much joy to our family. That is what is most important to me. Thank you :)

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  9. that's a great discovery. that is something we strive to balance, too. we both work outside the home but to stay in once we are home is always a struggle. you want to be engaged with the outside world but then it's that foundation and little rituals that really support life.

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    1. Oh yes, the foundation is so important, I think ours got a little shaky there for a bit, but we are back on the path, and the foundation from which we will delve deeper into simple living is much stronger.

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