2014. Boy was that a year. For some of you that follow my photography and blog, you know my family personally, for others this my be your first glimpse at what my life looks like on the other side of the camera. Although, I have done several posts in the past on my kids and life around Waxahachie, so if you haven’t seen those you should definitely check out the archives. Cuz I have cute kids…
The beginning of 2014 started off pretty rough. We had a 6 week old baby who just did not want to sleep EVER, a two year old who hated napping and eating consistent meals, and a lot of extra things that cluttered our lives and took up too much time. So after a really terrible few months we made some changes. We bought our first home in March, that we absolutely love. It’s an old soul straight out of the 40’s with lots of classic charm. Our favorite part is the front porch and swing that we use almost daily when the weather is nice. Around the time that we bought our house we also decided to take on the 30 day minimalist challenge where we got rid of hundreds of unneeded items that were cluttering up our new home (I wish we had the revelation before moving so we didn’t have to pack it all just to unpack and get rid of it!).
Minimalism has become a big theme for us this past year. Not just with our possessions, but also with our time. After going through those rough months, we realized that the important things in life are not Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media outlets. The important things are not possessions and our favorite TV shows every night. The important things to us are family, faith, relationships, and living simply. We made a concerted effort to stop buying meaningless junk that would end up in a donatation pile in a couple of years. We also deleted our social media apps off our phones and decided to put our phones down and spend time having meaningful conversation, reading books, and enjoying the outdoors as a family. I had no idea that our lives had been so weighed down by all this excess until it wasn’t a part of our lives anymore. What a breath of fresh air!
Going forward in 2015 we are continuing to move towards simplicity. Rather than making New Years resolutions, we are taking on a new challenge every month and hoping to take new habits from each month to improve our lives gradually. We’ll spend each month focusing on a specific thing: reading, arts and creativity, gardening and aquaponics, cooking, clean eating, living frugally, exercise, etc. And to start the year off we are putting our TV away for a month (that’s going to be a tough one, I enjoy my cooking shows!). When I get to the end of my life I don’t want to look back and regret wasting hours of my life on meaningless things just to pass the time. I want to have an awareness of the world around me, to think independently without immediately pulling out my phone to “google it”, and to love those around me to the best of my ability without unnecessary distractions.
2015 is going to be a purposeful year and I’m so happy to be spending it with Chris, Lyla and Paisley.
Slow down, laugh, be purposeful, set goals, be challenged, be a better person today than you were yesterday.
From my family to yours, Happy New Year.
Elaine
***A special thanks to Shelby Rivera for choosing our outfits, shooting the photos that I am in, and braving the cold windy weather! And her husband Matt who entertained the kids and moved a 40lbs pumpkin off the porch.***