des moines, iowa and beyond

workflow & systems strategist

The Year of Simplicity: Engaging with Life

Lifestyle

Imagine yourself embracing the good life, whatever that means for you. Soaking up the rays, going to the market, sipping sweet tea or lemonade with friends, going to the pool, watching your babies splash in the water, or simply curling up with a book on the couch in the A/C. Whatever that looks like for you, I’m joining you this summer to start truly engaging with life!

Happy Summer, Lovelies! It feels so great to be back on the writing and blogging train. I haven’t done many goals posts this year for many reasons. Life has been going at breakneck speed and I simply have not made the time to write out my thoughts. Also, I always doubt that you enjoy reading them or that they are helpful. However, as we transition through various seasons, it does seem helpful to find others who are able to offer encouragement and a different perspective or experience. Alas, I will be picking up monthly posts again.

At the beginning of the year, I yearned for simplicity in my life. To have margin to slow down and not feel guilty for choosing rest over being ‘productive’. To keep my focus there, I deemed 2018 as my year of simplicity. As I’m sure you’ve seen, 2018 has been a whirlwind for our family. Between becoming parents late last year and moving with a growing, very energetic little one, we are finally able to pause and breathe a bit this summer! As I look ahead to what the next few months have in store, there was an overwhelming feeling to just do life. By that I mean, not to sit at home and dream up a list or plot things on the calendar, but to get up and go. From that, came my mantra for the summer – Engage with Life!

To get nerdy on you, that means to participate and establish meaningful connection with creation, energy and soul. Amen!! That is what I have been craving! What our family needs after such a season of hustle and busy. For us, this means improving our diet and exercise routine, extending and accepting more invitations for face-to-face connection, looking for a church community and simply getting out of the house to explore!

I’m so excited for all of that joyful and energy infusing fun in our family life! What about business, you ask? Oh, friend! There is some slow and steady stuff happening there, too. I am working on some super exciting improvements and new things for both brides and creatives that I cannot wait to share. Like many things in life, we have to pour our time into the things that will be most fruitful. I am leaning in and embracing growing slow.

While my heart will always have a passion for HHE, couples and creatives, I also never want to forget that God and family come first. If I’m honest, I struggle with that sometimes because I get so excited about ideas. Then, I look at those sweet, loving faces of my AJP’s and shift gears. For right now, that means the business side, while still moving, will look a bit different in our lives. The hours I do work will be full to the brim with top priority tasks and little to no fluff. I’ll be trading Saturday afternoons at my desk or a coffee shop for books, blocks and peek-a-boo giggles. And I am 100% ok with that.

Perhaps you find yourself in a similar season and in need of some connection and energy. Maybe to embrace different priorities for your time than you’re used to? Or, maybe this is your busy season and you will be in a different kind of engagement with life for now. Whatever you are experiencing, know that we all have the opportunity, each day, to decide how we approach our life. I encourage you to be brave and start small. Make little choices that will add up. It might feel insignificant at the time, but I can tell you from experience, it adds up to strides. Those strides become leaps and the next thing you know, you are closer to your goals than before.

xoxo, Jenn

 

photography credits: Claire Casner Photography

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