Last week I bought my first hydrangea (Nikko Blue).
This week I bought all new sheets and rearranged a bedroom just because of the amazing blooms.
I’m doomed. Let the hydrangea addiction begin!
I even hung one to experiment with drying them…
There are worse addictions, right??? (Famous last words!)
Do you grow hydrangea? If so, what kind and what zone are you located in? I need to learn!
We are preparing for rain, here in Northern California, not unlike our preparations for snow in Missouri. Bringing in the delicate items, the lamps and tchotchkes that shouldn’t get soaked. We conjured up a lean-to to cover my succulent garden, as @inspirelovely would suggest. ⠀
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My friends know how much I do not like rainy days. They mess with me. I so wish I was the person who grabs a book and a comfy spot for reading. I used to have a friend who felt creatively inspired on rainy days and could produce content ten times faster. But my spirit lags in overcast weather. I have to work a little harder to keep my mind and heart buoyed. ⠀
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Obviously this is a huge benefit to living in California. Each and every day the sun comes out, the skies are blue and the clouds are fat and fluffy. Every. Single. Day.⠀
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I’ve learned a valuable lesson, however, in our two months living here. Everything – sidewalks and porches and cars and plants and highways – everything is dusty. When a bird relieves himself on your sidewalk, it stays there. The smog and dust of living builds up in deep layers. ⠀
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There is an importance in rain. A washing away. A starting again. A renewed and fresh shine, left in its wake. Rain serves the purpose of watering and feeding nature, sure. But it also gives our everyday surroundings a much-needed facelift. ⠀
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This particular rain is an important one. The wildfires have caused so much damage, even far beyond the point of burn. Our atmosphere needs cleansing so our lungs can breathe fresh clean air.⠀
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Rain as rejuvenation. As renewal. Washing away the ugly. The discarded. The build-up. Leaving behind a squeaky clean new beginning. ⠀
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So instead, I will lean into this rain with a new understanding. And when low-spirits lurk, I will check on the succulents in their safe tent and know we are all going to be just fine.
She climbed the stairs two at a time, racing against the clock. Her breath was labored and her heart was beating far too fast. She paused for only a second on the landing but knew she must keep going. Red-faced and exhausted, muscles screaming and pulse racing, she pushed herself further. There was a goal at the end. A pleasant experience that would make up for all of this heart-pounding climb. She must. She can! She WILL!
She…….stops.
That’s the way I have felt for the past two months. They have FLOWN by. Our move was a whirlwind filled with waiting and hurry-ups. It was inevitable that the true me, the Greta who knows better, would eventually stand up tall and yell, ‘Enough!’
I do not sustain on a fast-paced tempo for very long . I need downtime. I need time to think. To consider. To pause. The mottos I have adapted over the past few years began rising to the top of the hurried heap.
Do one thing at a time. Do it slowly, deliberately, and completely.
We had just a few weeks to wrap things up in Kansas City before making a quick cross-country drive to our new home in northern California – a concept we hadn’t even considered just a few short weeks before. Then we needed to hurry up and find a place to live. There were the inevitable snags and close-calls and more than a few late-night panics. After finding a place to live we then needed to organize the moving of our belongings – from 7 states away.
It was all for a good ending – the prize at the top of the stairs. But my mind and soul were growing more and more weary.
I fell back into the trap of ‘needing inspiration’. I regularly (read: compulsively) checked Pinterest. Made new Pinterest boards based on our new housing specifics. I scoured Instagram for ideas and launching pads of home style creativity.
But one day recently…….I stopped.
This isn’t me. This isn’t the life I have tried to cultivate and edit these past few years. The racing mind was keeping pace with the racing life. It was too much. I needed to stop and RE-re-evaluate.
If it feels overwhelming, simplify it.
For two months I have ignored my gut instincts. Those internal signals that try to point you to who you really are, not who the world is telling you to be. Not unlike a child lost in a busy shopping center, I eventually heard a familiar voice and knew I would be safe and that I was nearing home.
My days have looked a lot differently lately. I went back to my familiar routine (with a few modifications for our new location.) I wrote down the basics on a piece of paper and determined that those things came first. If I got the rest of the moving to do list done, then great. If not, it would be there tomorrow.
And it feels so good. Like taking a deep breath and letting the oxygen penetrate your muscles and joints and expand your lungs to full capacity, I am finding my footing again.
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I’ve also been thinking a lot about the word that has made its way into our social media vernacular: ‘influencer’. It seems there isn’t a post that is not talking about the benefits of buying this or the benefits of buying that. These are sincere people that I enjoy following, but have had to step away from because of the internal nudge I feel to ‘buy this’ or ‘buy that’. (aka: they’re doing a good job at their job!)
As hokie as it might seem, I wondered what it would be like to be an ‘influencer’ of something intangible. Like slow living (my particular passion) or encouraging words. Maybe I am just bitter, some would say. I am not in the SWIPE UP category of social media. But I don’t really think that’s what it is. I want to surround myself with slow eating, slow fashion, and slow thinking. And I want to help you find a corner of respite from all the BUY HERE NOW pressures that you experience as well. Let’s slow down a minute, okay? Will life be just as chaotic? Most likely. Will pressures and deadlines still need to be met? Absolutely. But maybe we can navigate those time crunches with a little more grace (to ourselves and others) if we learn how to take some precious time for ourselves every day.
I recently re-read something I wrote in the front page of my Bible years ago but this time I wondered if there are moments in our everyday lives that could use a little Sabbath time as well:
God didn’t need to rest but He rested because He wanted to enjoy His masterpiece and He wanted to give us permission to do that as well.
The Sabbath: a day to refocus your heart, quiet your mind, and to be aware of God’s warm embrace.
The Sabbath is no longer a set of laws needed to be governed, but a condition of the heart that needs to be guarded.
I would encourage you (as I am resetting my own thinking as well) to find a moment of Sabbath in your Tuesday. And your Thursday. And your Saturday. Find moments of Sabbath to slow down, take a breath, and refocus your mind on what is important – not what is pressing.
We’ll get this right yet. How do you find time to slow down and gain your footing? I’d love to hear your ideas – both logistical and metaphorical.
Are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?
~ Mary Oliver, Westwind
We prayed for the Lord’s direction. Over and over and over again I prayed: “This needs to be your decision. We want to be where YOU want us to be.” I felt like I was prepared for either answer. But when the answer finally came, my first reaction was:
“Are you surrrrre about this one, Lord?!”
We are two born and bred Missourians. We proudly hail from the 816. However, we are also two people who LOVE a good adventure.
So when Scott was offered a job promotion this week, we were intrigued. And now it’s official. As of September 15, we will be two Midwesterners living in northern California. Yep…California!
Sacramento area, to be exact. Roseville, California to be even more exact.
Do we know what the precise plan is? We don’t. This is an extreme practice in patience…and both of us are failing at various times throughout the day. It all happened within the span of a week and a half. Then we were given three weeks to move. If you know me at all, you know I’m now up all night planning and making lists. The scratchpad next to our bed is scribbled all over with dark-of-the-night notes. We are a million emotions all at once.
So that’s the big adventure we are about to go on and we’d love to have you go along with us. We welcome any advice you have and we’ll take you along as we discover new places and people on the west coast. (Do we have to start saying ‘left coast’??) We’ll be a couple of hours from a lot of cool places: Lake Tahoe, the Redwood Forest, San Francisco, Reno – lots of things for you to do when you come for a visit! (wink*wink)
Meanwhile, let’s figure this thing out together, ok?! Let’s go!
Resilience Reimagined 