what we learned Spring of 2018

Emily Freeman (possibly my favorite internet writer for the last decade) has made a practice of rounding up what she’s learned each quarter. I’ve been doing “what I learned” posts yearly for a while, but I need to make time to remember more often, so I am, and I’ll get to link up with a bunch of others who are doing the same.

 

Dry shampoo.

I know. I’m so far behind on this one. And yes, it has aluminum starch in aerosol form, which is terrifying (and who even knew that aluminum had starch?) but y’all, my hair takes for-friggin-ever to wash and condition. I don’t bother drying it- I just sleep with it wet and it’s at least almost dry by morning. If I can do that whole thing as infrequently as possible, it’s a win.

 

Rest

I told Andrew when I was pregnant with Brian that when I was done having and nursing babies, I was going to need to go somewhere and sleep for a while.

Four years later, I made it. And it was glorious. I got cheap mileage tickets to California (with a layover to see some of my people in Seattle) and rented a car and found an Airbnb in Santa Barbara. I visited a dear friend and mostly… I rested.

I don’t say this to brag about my rad life (although it was pretty awesome). I just want to throw out there that it’s worth it. It was costly and the logistics were a pain, but it’s worth celebrating eight years of childbearing with a week of sleep, and now that I’ve been home awhile, I can say that the benefits are real and lasting. I was afraid that the rest would actually make everything worse: the shock of my regular life afterward would just push me over the edge. It did not. Reentry is no joke, but I had enough downtime to sort of evaluate what is essential in my regular life and pare down a bit so my regular life can be more restful.

Press n Seal.

For reals. I heard this mentioned in passing in an early episode of The Lazy Genius podcast, and I froze where I was standing. I was in my kitchen with orange counters overflowing with dishes and detritus and 40-year-old orange-and-gold linoleum that perpetually needs a broom, and I just stood stock still for a second or two with the realization that this was about to change. my. life. FOREVER.

It’s not just press n seal. It’s press n seal in the FRIDGE. Cover the fridge shelves in the film and when it’s time to clean the refrigerator, just pull it off and put new film down. Pro tip: if your fridge has removable shelves, it’s much easer to seal the plastic to shelves that are room temp and dry than cold and collecting condensation.

YouVersion Bible App

This, like press n seal, is old news. I’ve had this app since I had a smartphone. The new part is the audio. That’s not really new, either. Just new to me. I started listening to it in the morning before I got out of bed, but I was really prone to falling back asleep, both missing my reading and wrecking my morning.

What I’ve learned to do instead is listen at night before I sleep. I almost never zonk in the middle and it fixes my heart on Jesus as I fall asleep. The bulk of my reading currently is some crazy crap going on in 1 Samuel between Saul and David, but I find myself drifting off to sleep talking to Jesus about what is going on. (Even though I know how it ends.) I love reading, but I’ve read the Bible a lot, and I have a tendency to skim now. Listening to it (at normal speed, not 1.8x) is an unexpected way to allow the words to actually sink into my heart.

Also? I’ve spent most of the years of my life trying to have a morning “quiet time.” You know, “start your day in God’s word.” Like 90’s Christian subculture said we should. But the Hebrew day starts at sundown, and I’m learning there’s value to framing the day this way. I don’t know why it matters, but when I look at the evening as the start of tomorrow rather than the dregs of today, I feel calmer and less frantic about everything. Including my timing for scripture reading.

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If you enjoy reading what I learned this spring, head over to Emily’s post– there’s links at the bottom to a whole community sharing their lessons.