CELEBRATING SIMPLICITY

This Summer is a Time to Focus on Decluttering and Prioritizing

article by Cindy G. Foust

Happy birthday to the United States of America month, readers, and I hope you are enjoying your summer as I write this column. Believe it or not, we will officially be halfway through summer once this magazine hits your driveway. In fact, this writer is already looking at Christmas decorations on Pinterest. I’m just kidding, but one store that I frequent has already started putting out their decorations and I am shocked and outraged. Not really, they do it every year but the last time I was in there I passed a little old lady who was giving the imaginary store manager the one-two about it not even being the 4th of July and they were already putting out snowmen. Anywho, Christmas will get here soon enough and for right now, I want to savor all things summer.

As a matter of fact, as I write this column, I’m sitting on the patio as my husband grills us a burger watching the College World Series. We had the good fortune of going to the CWS two years in a row and I am not sure what that has to do with my column, but it was a lot of fun and both my boys thought they had died and gone to heaven. Speaking of heaven, my first cousin, who’s like my sister, surprised me with a visit last weekend and boy did we have a good time. I’m fortunate to have cousins who are more like siblings and I really enjoy spending time with them. We sit around and laugh about our childhood and the super-secret club we had. You might be surprised to know that I was the president of our club and my cousin, Jeff, was the vice-president and did we ever have some strict rules for the younger members. For one, you had to eat dog food to be a member and that was the deal breaker if you didn’t.  Of course, Jeff nor I had to eat the dog food, I mean, you think Queen Elizabeth eats beanie weenies? That’s a big no, the top of the food chain makes the rules, they don’t have to follow them. And that deal has really worked out well for the Queen because she has a national holiday just in honor of her birthday. Far as I can tell, my reign as president of the “I Spy a Fly” club (we thought we were spies, of what, I am not entirely sure, maybe my grandmother watching her soaps?) did not result in a national holiday in my honor but it was really fun bossing around the younger kids and making them be the “kool-aid girls” to go fetch our drinks. Now, you might be wondering why I’m sharing cousin stories and I might be wondering why you, readers, are not aware that July 24th is National Cousin’s Day.

Now, don’t you feel a little out of touch? This national day of celebration got me to thinking about those good ole days, carefree… innocent…simple. I do that routinely you know, long for simpler times, when life seems to be whizzing by on a jet plane and I’m at the boat dock.

With that fine analogy in mind, I sometimes catch myself, when life is swallowing me up, longing for a just a moment, a minute, to sit on my back porch and watch my donkey (Glen, who incidentally, likes pancakes) and drink a tall glass of sweet tea. Or lay in the game room with my family and watch the Hallmark channel or the College World Series. Or piddle in my herb garden. Wait, I don’t have an herb garden because I was too busy to plant one this year. See, that’s exactly my point…I was too busy to do something I ordinarily enjoy.

So what’s the secret to having and doing it all? I wish I knew, I wish someone could coach me into “finding the balance” because I truly want to just stop and smell the roses. National Simplicity Day is July 12th and I think it’s pretty cool to have a holiday (I use that word loosely because I’m quite sure I won’t be off work) that encourages people to simplify their lives, but is one day enough? Shouldn’t this be a mindset shift? I actually wrote a column about this very thing some time ago, but I obviously didn’t heed my own advice because here I am still on the Texas Giant roller coaster of life. I think as importantly as my own “slowing down” process, I truly don’t want my kids to think this is how you are supposed to live your life. Can I get an A to the MEN? I began to read about simplifying my life in researching this column and I was surprised at some things that I could be more proactive with that might just give me the jump start I need. For instance, and this is also a very good place to start with your children, but limiting my time on social media will certainly be a priority.

I don’t know about you readers, but social media can sometimes make me feel really bad about myself. I love the aspect of staying in touch with family and friends, but some people really seem to have charmed lives and well, sometimes, I don’t. But besides the fact that I don’t get to take a vacation every month, shop to my heart’s content and work out 23/24 hours a day, I just think there is a better use of my time, so I’m going to work at minimizing my time on these platforms.

Next, I started creating a list of priorities. I’m even working through this exercise with my daughter…things we want to accomplish this summer, goals we have set for ourselves. In that list is certainly spending more time with my family and friends. A few weeks ago I planned a little homemade pizza night and invited a few friends over and let me tell you, a good time was had by all. It was impromptu, super easy and fun and the food was delicious. It just took a little planning and the next thing you know, my kitchen was full of people that I love, Ambrosia was playing in the background and wonderful smells were coming from my oven. It was, in a word, heavenly.

Finally, I’m learning to say no. This has and will always be a problem for me. Like many of you, we get asked to do things that over extend us. To be clear, I love helping someone, especially someone in my tribe, but it’s all the “asks” on the outside of my circle, on the fringe if you would, that create chaos and suck time away from other things I’d rather be doing. So, I’m just going to be more mindful to “just say no” to some of these asks.

After I started my research, I could write pages on this, but I don’t want to start like the Titanic trying to fix everything, and end up in a paddle boat. Again. Anybody on the same page as me? Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m living my life, it feels like my life is living me. I know you must feel the same way, so buy in to what I’m saying readers, and jump on the simplicity wagon and let’s do this. I plan to make myself totally transparent and accountable to you in a few months with an update on my very exciting and adventurous life and I know you will be waiting with bated breath. But do the same for yourself. Talk to your children about “slowing it down” a notch. Plan some impromptu dinners. Carve out family time. Eat around your table with your tribe. It may seem like a daunting life to embrace but think of the results, the peace of mind, you will get in return. Seems like a really good return on your investment to me and one that I look forward to with my whole heart.

Cindy G. Foust is a wife, mom, author and blogger. You can find her blog at the alphabetmom.com for weekly columns about home life,  parenting, small business stories and insight with a smidgen of literacy. Give her a like or follow on Facebook and Instagram.