the leaves have slowly started to change from lush greens to golden yellows & rusty reds, creating firey patterns alongside the highways and lonesome country roads. the air, nostalgic of rainy afternoons and musty leather, has just a hint of chill. i'm often drawn to reach for my favorite, oversized sweater that i've had for years and refuse to retire, just yet. the crockpot cooks most dinners these days, filling the room with savory aromas and all the best, cozy feels.
the s l o w n e s s of the early, morning hours when the world is still sleeping, when every movement and sound is its own kind of magic. frosty mornings are accompanied with lingering fog and dewy grass that glistens in the soft sunlight. the pitter-patter of rain from a late morning storm creates kaleidoscope patterns on my car windshield. the evening hours are here sooner, with shadows that dance across the walls as the last rays of sun disappear beyond the horizon line, leaving painted streaks of colors fading into the sky.
my fingers gravitate towards thoughtlessly scrolling through social media—the grand highlights of others' lives; my calendar fills with to-dos, zoom calls, meetings, appointments; my days span from sunrise to after dark, and even then, can i squeeze 6? 7? hours of sleep in for the night? but my mind stays awake, already racing towards the happenings of tomorrow.
it's come to a point where i've realized how i've been running full-steam ahead without stopping to smell the roses. i've been hustling towards so many things that i have forgotten to enjoy this season i'm in. currently. right now. but it's ok (and much, much needed) to slow down.
it's ok to quiet the noise of other people's lives on the internet.
it's ok to leave some open space in my schedule.
tomorrow will come, today is what we've been given—let's really savor these moments. let's take time to rest, to lean into the changing of the season, and feel that shift in ourselves too. are you in tune with this season of life, with ears and eyes open to what you can learn? how you can grow? what you might be missing?
i don't know about you, but for me, i'm striving for a slower pace, for intentionality, for a mindset of gratitude. i want to be more attentive to small details and simple beauties. i'd love to start reading more and spending time outdoors and grabbing coffee with friends, just because.
even if i can make a few small adjustments to my days, that's at least a start, i'm willing to try.
——
below: a few thoughts on how to be mindful in slowing down and soaking up our everyday:
1. limit time on your phone
it happened just this past week; a sudden realization.
simmering for days—weeks, probably. it finally bubbled to the surface, enough that i felt a pretty sharp shift inside which caused me to pause. and think. and evaluate where the heck this is coming from, what i'm actually feeling, and why. i tend to feel a lot of things, a lot of the time (just your typical enneagram 4) but this was somewhat different. it was something that was almost familiar, vaguely recognizable, but also new and raw and a bit too heavy to ignore. it's taken me some time to collect my thoughts, but i think i'm beginning to narrow it down to this:
"there is much discontentment to be found in the comparison of this current season of life to another's; there's a loss of joy in the frantic rush to always be doing more, better, faster."
i'm sure, this is not a new concept, but i'm beginning to feel it's an all too subtle thing that sneaks up behind us when we least expect it to; i hardly even noticed it was happening before my eyes.
don't get me wrong though—i really do love all the things i've been working on up until this point. i've been discovering more about how i'm wired, what my passions are, and using my gifts & talents as a catalyst for things to come, someday, which i absolutely love.
but what i'm realizing? i've slowly started to trade my authentic approach to creativity for checking off boxes & to-do lists; exchanging the gift of creating—simply for the joy of it—for curating the 'perfect' feed or coming up with just the right caption to *hopefully* drive more sales or gain more followers or finally get 100 likes or—does this sound silly of me when you read it out loud, in your head? am i the only one?
i think truthfully, that's where so many of us are. whether you have your own business or blog or simply your own corner of the interwebs, it can be far too easy for our gaze to wander. we start looking to the left and to the right, feeling the inner pull to get ahead of the person next to us. and so we hustle, hard. we put our nose to the grindstone and start sprinting towards our finish line, not stopping until we 'reach the top' or 'get x amount of followers' or can afford that beautiful new house or car or ____ too, because then, THEN i will have "arrived."
no, there has to be more to life than that.
& in all honestly, i don't want to be in that lane. i don't want to outrun the crowd, carrying the weight of my days on my shoulders, heavy with the pressure to always be striving for that next thing in life that i miss the extraordinary beauty right here, right now, right in front of me. this isn't to say i now have no more goals or am quitting everything i have started—absolutely not. but i do think small changes, adjustments of sorts, are much needed—even if that means re-prioritizing the use of my time and energy and headspace i have in this specific season. i still think hustle has a time and place, but even so, it must be met with such caution and structure and grace (upon grace.)
"i don't want to outrun the crowd, carrying the weight of my days on my shoulders, heavy with the pressure to always be striving for that next thing in life that i miss the extraordinary beauty right here, right now, right in front of me."
let's get back to creating just for fun, ok? to falling in love with our everyday, mundane moments (that are actually really uniquely beautiful.) go ahead, post that picture you snapped that's maybe a little sideways, a little blurry but oh, how you love it anyways and want to remember that exact moment, just as it was. put away technology for once (oof, this one is for me) and go outside—look up. notice how the cotton clouds change so fast yet so slow. feel the warm, glowing sun on your skin, the way it shines brilliantly through the trees. listen to the hundred little bird songs far up above and notice, wasn't that a blue jay that just passed by?
maybe this post was really just for my own brain and heart to fully soak in, to lay it all out in the open—vulnerable and raw and real so i can start to reevaluate where to go from here. but hopefully, if you made it this far, you can find yourself somewhere in here too; in the push & pull of your own hours and days and what does that look like for you? are you truly content, in this season? what are you striving for? how are you feeling, actually? how do you spend you hours each day? what should needs to change? (truthfully, i'm just asking myself these things over & over.)
let us not go through our seasons of life without savoring each and every moment. soak it all in—even the smallest details. work hard? absolutely. but also stop and smell the roses too. take a day or night off, without guilt. build in the time for the much-needed heart and soul work, for we are all walking works-in-progress. share conversations and cups of coffee with a dear friend. dance in your kitchen as you make saturday morning pancakes, just because. (don't even bother to document it online—be completely present this time.)
do something that makes your soul feel alive.
if you need some inspiration, here are a few ideas:
- read a book! a magazine! a newspaper! (the paper kinds, not digital)
- take a daily walk around your neighborhood
- learn to play the guitar or ukelele, just for fun
- make a list of friends you've been wanting to see (contact 2 of them right now)
- paint, draw, watercolor, scrapbook, cook, bake, sew—do anything creative
- visit your local bookstore or thrift shop or park
- do a 30-minute workout (cardio, HIIT, weightlifting—just move your body!)
- go to bed early & set up a consistent sleep structure
- go drink 16oz. of water right now (and a few more later too)
- have a few friends over for a movie or game night
- write out or journal your recent thoughts, prayers, or reflections
Servings: 6-8
Prep/Cook Time: 35-45 min
Ingredients:
Crust:
- 2 cups almond flour (I used oat flour)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 flax egg
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Filling:
- 5 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
- fresh lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp arrowroot (I used cornstarch and tapioca pearls)
- 2-3 tbsp chopped pecans
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Next, add the flax egg and slice in the coconut oil. Mix together until dough starts to form. (You may need to balance the mixture by adding additional flour so it's not too sticky)
3. Press the dough into a glass pie dish. Bake for about 8-10 minutes.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, honey, lemon juice, water, cinnamon and salt.
5. Bring mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 3-5 minutes.
6. After it has simmered, take off the heat. Add the chia seeds and arrowroot and mix well. You want this consistency to be pretty thick and not too runny. I added additional tapioca pearls (about 2 tbsp) as an additional thickening agent, which worked great!
7. Let the filling sit for about 5 minutes.
8. Pour the blueberry filling into the pie crust and sprinkle chopped pecans on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
9. After the pie is done, let it cool until room temperature. Place pie in the fridge for about 45 minutes or until chilled.
10. Slice, serve and enjoy :)
Tips:
- You may also use a food processor for step 2.
- The pie filling will continue to thicken as it bakes in the oven, so don't worry about getting a super thick consistency before it's baked. As it chills in the fridge, it will also naturally harden.
- You may substitute pecans with any nut of your choice.
- Serve with a side of dairy-free ice cream or a fresh cup of coffee - both are delicious with a slice of pie.
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