Edie Wadsworth

This is Day 17 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” ~Mark Twain

I am a woman of many passions.  I love good books, crisp journals, cowboy boots, good food, coffee, DIY projects, chocolate, and babies.  And that’s just the short list.  I’m am truly a jill of all trades, master of hardly anything.  It has taken me a long time to be okay with that—to truly accept who I am and how God made me, without wishing I had some other set of skills and talents and interests.  I am finally living in my sweet spot—the intersection between my passions and my giftings.   It only took me the better part of 40 years— but I have finally submitted to who I am and why I’m here.

I am an artist and so are you.  What gift were you made to give the world?  Who was your life and your art meant to serve?

Slowly realizing what I was made to do  has changed my life.  That doesn’t mean the journey here has been easy, because it hasn’t.  And you’ll work way harder when you discover your passions, because finally work won’t seem like work. While you are immersed in that thing that makes you come alive—hours will pass and yet time will stand still.  It’ll feel like you were in a dream, because you were.  The challenge is not so much to find what you were made to do as to submit to it. Offer yourself and your gifts to those around you.

When you are not living in your sweet spot,  you will always more tempted by distractions and coping mechanisms.  Until I realized the meaningful work I was created for, I shopped a lot and often bought things I didn’t need to fill a void.  I struggle way less with that now that I’m doing work I love. Your ways of coping may be different,  but I can tell you this—until you answer the big questions in your life, you will struggle to find your way.  When you finally discover what you were made to do, you will know it, because you’ll feel like you’ve come home.

So, why are you here?   What is it that makes you come alive?  What do you daydream about? Has your life spiraled out of control in some way?  Have you gotten into bad habits because of boredom or stress?  The truth is, you may be exchanging valuable days and hours for a life you don’t love.  It’s time to rethink your priorities and begin to do the stuff of your daydreams.  Start today. It won’t happen by accident.

Some resources that might help you find your way back to your passions are Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job and Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff.

Challenge Day 17:  Do you find yourself sliding into bad habits of overindulgence?  Think  back to the last time it happened and why.   Now, identify an activity or hobby you are passionate about, but that you may have given up because of time, circumstances, stress, or money.  Is there a way to incorporate that passion back into your life somehow?  Start today.  Then inspire others by sharing your story in the comments below or on Facebook.

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Mindless Spending.

This is Day 15 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

But surely the wife’s work is, in reality, the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr Johnson said, ‘To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour’.  ~C.S. Lewis

We all have lots of work to do at home and that’s true whether we work elsewhere or not.  The time I spend here on this blog is significant and fulfilling, but it’s not the most important work I do.  And I think we’d all agree that the work we do elsewhere is mostly to support the important work we do at  home.  Work like buying food, cooking meals, raising children, making sure our families and homes are cared for, creating and nurturing family relationships, and so on forever!  And even though I supposedly have lots more time to do it than some, I’m always scrambling to get it all done.

As a stay at home momma, I can tell you without a doubt  the hardest part of my job?  Staying at home.  

I know it sounds crazy, but that’s where I struggle the most.  And I know too well, from all those days and months and years at home with my girls, that if you want to accomplish a lot at home, you have to stay home.  It is absolutely THE most asked question in my inbox.  How do you do it all?  Y’all.  I SO don’t do it all and I’m often plagued by guilt about all the things that go undone around here.  Lots of things go undone. But when I have those wonderful, productive days, it’s because I was able to stay home and do my work.

The secret to productivity at home is to discipline ourselves to stay home.  To stop running around like crazy people all the time. 

We all have errands that must get done, but because transportation is so easy, we’ve become lazy planners with how we use it.  And if you work during the day, the same could be said for how you use the evenings.  Can you set aside large blocks of time to be home so that you can make time for all the things that make home wonderful?  You’d be surprised how much you could get done, with a little planning and discipline.

We’ve all had weeks (or months) where we feel like all we do is run around.  It’s so draining.  But imagine a day where you were able to cook a great meal, do some cleaning, reorganize your closet, make time to read a book or play games with your kids.  That day is possible if you plan for it and guard the time at home like a momma bear.  We get caught up in the urgent and forget what’s important.  Make a date with your home!  You’ll be glad you did.

Challenge Day 16:    Get out your calendar and make a date sometime in the next week to spend some quality time at home.  Have you been wanting to cook more?  Plan a day where you cook and get your kitchen organized.  Have you been wanting to redecorate a room?  Decide what first steps you can take in making that project happen.  Missing your kids or feeling disconnected with your husband? Plan a night in at home with your family.   Find a way to stay home! Share your home date idea on facebook or in the comment below.

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Running-Around.

We are thrilled to have Crystal Paine of Money Saving Mom joining our Less & More challenge this month!  Be sure to check out her thoughts on Less Television, More Reading,  from  yesterday’s post!

 

This is Day 15 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ~Charles William Eliot

George Orwell had a chilling, dark vision, that the roots of liberal democracy would be overcome by a terror from without.  But 1984 came and went and our way of life had survived.  Neil Postman points out that perhaps we had forgotten another,  no-less chilling,  prediction by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World.  Postman says, ” Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.”  His book Amusing Ourselves to Death  is hard to read without seeing the writing on the wall.  We are being weakened by our constant desire for entertainment.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”  In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death)

The statistics are pretty staggering.  The average American, over the age of 2, watches around 40 hours of  TV per week.  That’s a full time job.  And if I’m not guilty of the TV portion, then certainly my “screen time” is no less staggering.  We have shifted from an word centered to an image centered culture and the only way I know to protect my self and my family from the tyranny of constant entertainment is to instill in them (and myself) a love for the written word.  As Ray Bradbury says, ““You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

Books are powerful and life-changing, but they are demanding and require more from us than we’ve been accustomed to giving.  Developing a life-long habit of reading will not be easy and you will most certainly swim upstream in our culture to do it. But it’s worth it.  There is no better gift that you can give yourself and your children than the desire and ability to read great books.

Here’s a few tips on how to start.

1. Start with Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.  I don’t know if I’ve ever read a more compelling book on the state of our current culture and its obsession with entertainment.  You will be inspired to turn off the TV and the computer and pick up a book.  
2. Begin a reading plan that is doable.  Commit to 15 minutes a day and do it at the start of your day.  I try to start and end my day with books, even if it’s only a few minutes.  When I first began a serious reading program, I followed Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had.  It gives suggestions on a reading plan, with  specific classic books, that all educated adults should read.
3. Don’t be too hard on yourself.  Reading is a serious, demanding endeavor.  It’s like exercise, but for your mind.  You won’t be able to run a marathon the first six months.  Start our slow, but keep going.  Consider starting a book club with a few like-minded folks. And remember, “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”  (Mortimer Adler)
4. I don’t agree that it doesn’t matter what you read as long as you read.  It does.  A lifetime of romance novels will likely not change your life.  But, Plato and Homer and Faulkner and C.S. Lewis might.  Here’s some inspiration to get your started.  Also, try this list of the 10 Books Every Christian Should Read. And remember, “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” (Oscar Wilde)
   

Challenge Day 15:  Make a commitment to stop watching television for the rest of the month.   Instead,  pick a book you’ve been meaning to read and make it your goal to finish it by the end of October.  Any book will do but we strongly recommend starting with Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.  Let us know what books you are planning to read this month!  Show or tell us on Instagram or Facebook. Use the hashtag #31dayslessmore

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less TV.

We are thrilled to have Crystal Paine of Money Saving Mom joining our Less & More challenge this month!  Be sure to check out her thoughts on Less Smart Phone, More Communication, from  yesterday’s post!

p.s. One more thing.  I’m giddy to announce that the Creatively Made Home Holidays course starts TODAY!!!! Hurry over and sign up and be inspired to make your holidays full of creativity and meaning.

This is Day 14 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

The Teen Room

“Communication is truth; communication is happiness. To share is our duty; to go down boldly and bring to light those hidden thoughts which are the most diseased; to conceal nothing; to pretend nothing; if we are ignorant to say so; if we love our friends to let them know it.”  ~Virginia Wolf

It never fails.  Every time I head out for a run, I get about a mile down the road and one of my girls calls or texts. It’s usually about food—what should they eat, why can’t I bring Chick-Fil-A, etc.  The point is, if I never run a marathon due to phone call interruptions during training, that’s on them.  The truth is, I like it that way.  This past Saturday, I was out for  a 7 mile run and fielded no less than 3 phone calls about what they should have for breakfast and what show they should watch and did I remember the name of the condo where Taylor Swift lives.  You know, life-threatening, run-interrupting stuff.   I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Anytime the teens and tweens wanna talk, I’m all ears.

But often, my phone is not a bridge from me to others.  Often, it’s a barrier.  I LOVE my iPhone and I have a plethora of apps that make it nearly impossible to put the darn thing down.  I can almost run my whole life from my phone.  I do mobile banking, read my Kindle books, pin like a crazy woman,  stalk you good folks on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to all kinds of good tunes.  That’s one handy device, there’s no doubt about it.  Everyday, I marvel at the ingenuity of and creativity of that little handheld computer. But, it’s so easy to become a slave to it—to use it as a barrier that shields us  from true communication, to prefer the mindless surfing to actual talking and connecting.  It’s so hard to keep it in balance because they are so addictive.

And that’s why I sit on the bed.  They like to tell their stories and they love hearing mine.  Maybe what happens in the next few crucial years will depend on how many hours we sit on the bed.  The phone, as smart as it is, can’t help me here.  She needs me, in the flesh and undistracted. I hope I have the courage to sit a good, long while.

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I constantly have to ask myself if I’m using my phone or is it using me?  Here’s a few tips that help me use it better.

• Ask anyone who’s ever tried to reach me on the weekend.  It’s not very easy.  I often leave my phone in the car over the weekend, only to discover a host of missed calls on Sunday or Monday.  I don’t always even do it intentionally, but I love old fashioned weekends, full of good books, good food and less technology.  Try it.  You might like it.
• I keep a daily to-do list/journal and often will write down a friend or two that I want to try to connect with during the week.  If I’m not intentional about it, it usually doesn’t happen.
• I don’t take my phone to bed with me.  I charge it in my office, so I’m not tempted to start and end my day with it.
• I often intentionally leave it in the car when I’m going somewhere so I’ll be able to connect with real live people and not be tempted to constantly check the phone.

Challenge Day 14:  Carve out some smartphone free time or space in your day.  Ask your spouse for an honest evaluation of your smart phone usage, then together create a few smart phone policies to implement in your life and family.

Be sure to read Ruth’s post, Less Smart Phone.

Hope you had a great weekend!  I’ve got a few goodies to share with you!

Great thoughts and ideas about decorating for teen girls.  I couldn’t agree more!

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Love this Bedroom Makeover at LizMarie blog.

Tis the season for all things pumpkin.  Try this pumpkin spiced latte.

 Or my pumpkin muffins.  Or pumpkin chipotle chicken soup. 

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And last, but not least, the Creative Made Home Holidays course starts this week!!!  This video is a personal introduction to the course from our lovely leader,  Jeanne Oliver.

This course is more than project videos and recipes.  It is about the heart of the holidays.  You will be so inspired at the end of this four weeks, that you’ll never look at the holidays quite the same again.

To read more about the course, visit here.  Sign up today through this paypal link.

 

 

 

One last thing.  I did an interview with KFUO St. Louis last week on leaving my career to homeschool the girls.

 

This is Day 13 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

Let us all then leave behind letters of love and friendship, family and devotion, hope and consolation, so that future generations will know what we valued and believed and achieved. ~Marian Wright Edelman, foreword from Letters to a Nation

Several years ago, I embarked on a rather large adventure of reading the letters that John and Abigail Adams wrote to each other.  I read the ones in this book, The Letters of John and Abigail Adams,  and then searched for many others online.  I sat every night, spellbound, as I marveled at the discipline, love and skill it must have taken to write those volumes of letters.  I was completely inspired and thankful, to be the heir of such a generous legacy.

It sparked a love and interest for handwritten notes that still lives on in me.   I LOVE the beauty of the written word and I always am writing things down in my daily journal.  As much as I love and use my computer, nothing will ever replace pen and paper for me.  And I only use one certain kind of pen—so to avoid the horrors of writing with a bad pen.  I have five or six of them in my purse, ten or so in my car, a few at my desk, and two by my bed.  Penless, I shall never be.  Sadly,  I have regrettable handwriting, or at least that’s what my kids tell me.  One thing is for sure, I make large, flowery letters and have a barely legible signature.  But, I do have an incurable love for writing with a pen and I think it’s a lost art that we would do well to recover.

I do much less handwriting than I used to but I still love sending and receiving hand-written notes.  Every year at Christmas and birthdays, I usually take a little time and write my kids a love letter.  I remind them how much I love them and I like to name specific qualities about them that I admire.  By far, the most special part of the process is that it’s in my  hand-writing.  And I feel the same way when I receive hand written notes.  They are special and far too rare.

I have a little gem of a book called, The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication.  The author says,

Corresponding on paper lets you elevate a simple pleasure into an art form.  And art has always survived technology.  A handwritten note is like dining by candlelight instead of flicking on the lights, like making a gift instead of ordering one, like taking a walk instead of driving. When you write a note, you are giving yourself to the reader in the most civilized way.”

With the onslaught of digital everything, most of us are out of the practice of handwriting.  But this beautiful form of art and expression is never dated and never loses it charm.  And how many of us shuffle through our mail everyday, in hopes that maybe there’s one or two things handwritten?  I always open those first.  So, make someone’s day and handwrite them a note!

Challenge Day 13:  Now, it’s time to write a note.  First, search around and find your best pen and some paper or stationary.   Next, find a comfortable, well-lit spot to write.   Then, write a letter to your spouse or to each of your children—being sure to include the date, time, a loving greeting, and meaningful, heartfelt sentiments.   It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, just a few sentences expressing yourself in love to someone. If you’re more inclined toward the artistic side of letter writing, consider some calligraphy pens and good stationary.   A few years ago, I bought some calligraphy pens and handwrote all my Christmas cards.  It was so much fun to give and my family and friends were happy to receive them.

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Email.