{31 Days} Intentional Living – Day 31

Find the rest of my {31 Days} Intentional Living series here


Well, it is the last day of my {31 Days} Intentional Living series.  I had planned on writing about First Aid kits today, seeing as how I had been talking about food and water preparedness the past couple of days.  However, I realized that I had a lot more to say on the subject of being prepared for whatever may come our way, so instead I figured I would do a bit of a recap on the month and what I have learned.

I have been all over the place this month.  At first I had hoped to give tips on how to be intentional, but then I realized that there are so many parts of my own life I would like to be more intentional about, so it instead became about me trying to do a bunch of individual challenges for intentional living myself, and then sharing it with you all.

One of the most important parts of this month for me was backing off the tv and internet.  You wouldn’t think that I could do that and continue to blog every day, but surprisingly it has worked out really well for me.  It is still here, we haven’t thrown the TV away, and I am still using the computer – obviously – but I don’t have it on as much as I did before.  That has thrown a bit of wrench into my communication with people – I am big on e-mail – but I think that I have felt better overall for it.  I’m not going to lie, I will be really happy when the election is over, and I can just turn the news on to see the news and not so much about the election, although I might not want to watch the news after the election either!

I realized that keeping a Sabbath is a really important thing for me.  And I also realized that the way our lives are set up currently, it seems almost impossible to do.  It is something I am working on though, and I think that we will get there eventually.  It is difficult to make such a huge change.  Of course I want to have a day during the week where I completely unplug and don’t have any chores to do; where we can just spend an entire day as a family resting and playing.  Apparently I am not that great at planning though, and end up making it through half a day before I need to get back to the business of daily work.

Having the chickens is a huge source of entertainment.  My kids love the chickens, and so do I.  I think I am even winning Matt over a bit!  They provide us with food, and also are able to eat everything I am too lazy to pick out of the garden.  I have been letting them free range a bit more…but they are slowly getting a little too brave and taking off up the street to who knows where.  They always come home at night, but I can’t imagine all the people that live in town want to see my chickens walking around their yard and doing their business on their steps…maybe I am overly cautious…I hope!  The chickens have started me thinking about my garden next year, and what I want to do differently, like actually getting to that succession planting I had wanted to do this year!

My kids are creative free spirits.  I love them so much!  I have had a habit of saying no to them for no reason other than my own convenience sometimes.  Obviously it isn’t fun to have a large cleanup after the kids play in the dirt, paint pictures…or each other, but to see the enjoyment that they have when they are able to do those things is worth it to me.  They are able to find and follow their own interests, and while I like them to be somewhat contained when making a huge mess, they occupy themselves for longer periods of time and I can actually get other things accomplished, or just enjoy watching them interact with each other.  Not that they should always be left to their own devices, but allowing them the freedom to express themselves and live their lives without feeling like I am constantly telling them no is a great benefit to them I believe.

Overall, this month has provided me with a lot of interesting things to ponder.  I have so many lessons that I have taken away, and things that I want to work more on – like being prepared for a big frankenstorm!  It has been a great experience continuing to write each day though, and although it was crazy to think of writing every day at first, now that it is the end of the month I think I might miss posting every day a bit.  I am very excited for the holiday season, and really want to enjoy it this year without as much stress as I typically put on myself.  At least that is the hope!

Thank you for following along with me!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Linking up at Your Green Resource