It has been a very busy summer and this is my last day off before school begins tomorrow with teacher in-service. I have tried to slow my life down recently, brought on by a recovery from hernia surgery, an out of control thyroid, and a frozen shoulder. I must regain some balance in my life and get my health under control. The thyroid issue seems to finally be manageable and I am determined to reverse my Hashimoto's by getting to the root cause of my autoimmune issues, but I will leave that for another blog.
Let me tell you about our camping trip we just returned from. We (including the hub, daughters and two dogs) went to Indian Boundary Campground and camped for three nights. The weather was perfect. There was some overnight rain the first night, but there is nothing cozier than sleeping in a tent in the rain. It was even cold at night and we needed more blankets than we took with us. We took no watches or time devices of any kind with us and estimated the time of day by the position of the sun, which was very liberating actually. Did you know you can tell how many hours of daylight is left by using your hands? Cool! We did some hiking around the lake, but mostly just hung out around the campsite and napped, read, or just sat. We kept our cooking to a minimum, taking pre-cooked paleo waffles we tossed in the toaster and muffins for breakfast. We ate sandwiches and fruit for lunch. We got some local BBQ in Tellico Plains on our way in for dinner the first night, put beef stew in the crock pot the second night, and grilled chicken and vegetables the last night. That kept cleaning to a minimum which was wonderful!
With all that extra time on my hands I was able to do some reflecting and thinking. I noticed the girls were very pleasant and having a good time. My girls are great, but they are also normal siblings with the everyday arguing and fighting that goes on in most homes, I feel sure. Being a budding teenager, my oldest has become difficult to please lately and does not think we are cool parents at all. She is happiest closed up in her room alone with her ipod and her bed. That is not how I want our family to interact. We had some real quality time together on this trip that seems so difficult to do at home. I came to realize there are toxins built into our daily routines, or lack of routines, that are interfering with our family. It is always rush here, do this, be there...we just collapse into bed later than we should and get up and join the rat race again the next day. We are involved in way too many activities and do not slow down to appreciate what we have. I find we are simply going through the motions of living life and not intentionally living life.
So what can I do about it? For starters, we are going to participate in less as this school year begins. There are so many activities available for kids...soccer, dance, music lessons, gymnastics, scouts....and they want to do them all it seems. Does it really benefit our children to be involved in so many activities at the expense of quality family time at home? I am going to go out on a limb here and say no. My girls must decide on what they really want to do this year and forego the rest, myself included. We will have one or two activities to focus on and do our best at those, rather than trying to do well at so many different things and string ourselves out. That should leave us more time to be a family at home. We cut the TV off five years ago and have never regretted it. But...it has been replaced with a Wii and Netflix. There will need to be more limits on that. We already do a pretty good job of eating dinner as a family at the dinner table, which I think is vital for any family. We have decided to invest in kayaks for the family! We live close to the lake and can do evening and weekend excursions as a family. That will also provide us with much needed exercise and outdoor time. We also will make it a priority to "unplug" for regular camping trips.
In an effort to make camping trips easier and more organized, I have put together a check list for supplies. If you have ever been camping with us, you know I always forget something. We end up having to make trips to the closest Walmart or Dollar General. I am a list person and think I finally have a good list that provides us with everything we could possibly ever need.
The list may look excessive for camping, but we car camp and I want to be prepared. Obviously, if we were backpack camping we would not take near that much. I will clean and restock when we get home from camping, having everything packed up in bins ready for the next trip. That will make preparing for the trip stress-free, all we will have to get together will be food, clothes and personal care products. Everything else will be ready to simply load up!
I encourage anyone reading this to find what you can detox from your emotional life. Plan more unplugged time with your family and/or friends. Get organized. Slow down! Don't try to be everything to everyone. Pick and choose what you participate in. Enjoy nature and get outside!
"...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things...practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)
