The Message Project : Slow Moments, Noticing Things

How is it so easy to get caught up in life? Not the big picture stuff like careers, or being a parent, or partner, but the day-to-day stuff. The endless running around, chasing your tail picking up kids, dropping off something to the post office, paying a bill. The boring bits. The stressful bits. The routine and mundane bits. Days turn into weeks and months and before you know it it’s September when you SWEAR that it was just March.

I’m always busy. Always. I just don’t allow myself to sit still and be. If I sit, I look at the table and see at that angle just how much dust has collected on it. Or the crumbs on the floor. Or make myself feel guilty that I should be tending to those weeds that are always in the garden, needing pulling. I’m my own worst enemy. I drive myself crazy, I really do.

I’m trying, day in, day out to slow down. Not all together. No, that would just drive me insane, but in moments. Just to be. To stop. To enjoy. I force myself to take these moments, be in them, drink them in. Remember them.

Photos help. Looking at them through a lens makes you stop. Capture the light. Snap the moment. Recording the simple beauty of every day moments that pass us by each and every day.

The dark caramel colour of my first coffee of the day dripping into my favourite cup.
The lines in the grass where the sun hits and melts the frost first.
The yellow river of ooze from a boiled egg yolk as the first soldier is dipped in.
The little offerings of gourmet plastic food my daughter brings to me throughout the day.
Flowers sitting. Just so. In my favourite jug on the table.
The sound of the fire crackling as it starts every night.
The smells and sounds of dinner being plated up.
The sweet snoring of my girls as I check in on them at night.

Stopping. Slowing. Capturing. Remembering. Enjoying. And being.

I’m not good at it yet, but I’m trying. And I’m getting better. And now I can look back at my year and remember the little parts – the simple joys in my day that make up a whole year of quiet moments of happiness.

This post is part of Mount Franklin’s #themessageproject, celebrating the work of the McGrath Foundation.

About Beth: “I’m Beth, just Beth. I believe in family. Good friends. Pork. Champagne. Long lunches. Sleeping without being woken by small children. Clean sheet day. Fresh flowers in my home. Open fires and sitting by them with drink in hand. Using my passport. Love, real proper, heart thumping love with my husband. Bad reality TV. The internet. Cooking. Eating. Changing my hairstyle. Often. I believe in reading, writing, watching and sharing. And putting it ALL out there.”