I originally posted this on another blog on September 19, 2017 🙂
I realize that from time to time I get on “kicks” where I want to do something that makes an impact in this world and get a real passion behind it, only to lose interest within a few months and I’m on to the next thing. It’s not a great quality and I am very aware of it and I’m always hoping the next time it will be different. I’ll stay committed this time I tell myself, and this time I truly hope to because it’s important to me, my family, my world, and I want to teach my daughter things that truly matter through example.
I recently watched Minimalism: A Documentary on About the Important Things (http://minimalismfilm.com/). This documentary really touched a nerve in me. I realize that for much of my younger life, making more money and moving up the corporate ladder and acquiring material things was important to me. My career was even more important than having children. It was not about recognition or image for me, it was more about acquiring more things, experiences, exciting new adventures and providing more and more options for me in life. That was important to me, more, more, more. I had fallen into this consumer mentality of America, because after all that is the American dream, right?! My eyes became open to the possibility of being so much more happy with less. This idea has recently been on my mind and settling in my heart, and discovering this documentary came my way at the right time.
After this I began a passion in minimizing the things I need in life, which led to reading endless blogs, pinning endless pins and creating several boards around this, which led to watching the documentary The True Cost (https://truecostmovie.com/)… and now I’m on a mission to live more ethically in the clothing I buy and being mindful of this battle against fast fashion. Out of all the consumer things to obtain, clothes and shoes are definitely my favorite. I think about that beautiful woman in Bangladesh who had to leave her little girl with her parents so she could go to work for basically nothing in order to give her daughter a “better life.” (Of course that ripped my heart out because having my own young daughter, I can’t imagine only seeing her twice a year because I’m trying to make a living hoping for her to be successful and have all she needs to make that happen in life.)
So… I have begun my journey towards more ethical living and minimalizing, not only my closet but, our entire house one room at a time. My husband can’t help but role his eyes at this new endeavor, but he’s supportive and sees a true need and agrees with this journey himself, so here we go. I thought I would blog this endeavor (and maybe actually keep up with this) because I know this is going to be a journey. When I think of journeys, I think of times of struggle, times of joy, times of monotony, times of newness, and most journeys are about perseverance and sticking to continuing through no matter what may come. It’s about a commitment. A commitment that means something to me, especially when I think of the possibilities this incredible journey could hold. I would love a more simple life that would allow me and my family more time to enjoy less and more simple living and hopefully more intentional time together as we seek to make this world a better place together. It’s hard to believe that our little family of three can make a big difference, but it starts somewhere and hopefully our little family’s journey can trigger more families to commit to making a change and making this world an even better place to live for many more future generations to come.
So… here we go… a new journey, a new adventure.
The Journey Home 