Less Learning. More Living.
It is harder than ever to make a decision in this age of unlimited access. Ideas and opinions fly from every direction, a thousand miles a minute. It’s not just family and friends putting in their two cents anymore. It’s the whole wide world.
I can EASILY spend all the time I have to play looking up the best activity for kids. I spend all the time I have to read or write looking up helpful resources I’ll never utilize. When the nation went on lockdown, I politely removed myself from every form of moms messaging group because the influx of inspiring homeschool ideas felt like a ton of bricks to sort, laminate and color code.
The heart behind the research and resources are good. I want to bring my best to my family, ministry, and every part of life. The kicker is that I still have to be available to show up for life. I’ve got to stop researching how to do all of life’s the best things, waiting for life to deliver me a dozen roses, or expecting all of life’s stars to align and make magical memories. Life has been known to delivers a swift kick to the gut rather than a dozen roses. (i.e., Coronavirus, toddler meltdowns, unexpected loss, financial strain, illness, etc.)
One way I’m trying to spend less time learning about life and more time living it, is by automating the things that I can. It’s very important to me to have fun with my kids. I am also a lover of spontaneity and adventures in the unknown. Currently, quality time with my children in safe, life-giving environments where they already know how to have fun is much more important than itching my spontaneous scratch. So we’ve automated our fun. We go to the same fun places all the time.
I made a few small investments and have a deck of season passes stored in my car. The moment we get a free hour or need a change of scenery, I put kids in the car where there is already a bag of essentials packed. And we go. Sometimes I don’t even know where we’re going until we get going, but we already have pre-configured, pre-paid options. The kids already know they are going to have fun when they get there.
There are many hard things we face in this lifetime. There will always be many unknowns and much to learn. So why not make some things simple? Pre-decide a few things, and put them in auto-pilot. Maybe it’s ordering pizza every Friday night, buying five pairs of your favorite pants and making it your life uniform, setting out coffee and your Bible before you go to bed, or packing a week’s worth of lunches on a Sunday night. What little, unimportant decisions can you take out of your day to make room for the things that matter most?
And just for fun.... Cape Town is a BEAUTIFUL city for automated fun! Here are our go-to’s. What are yours?
