Slow down, take your shoes off, feel the dirt under your feet.
TAKE
A MENTAL PICTURE
I didn’t blog once through the month of July. Not once.
That’s a first in almost four years. Even writing that
sentence took a moment to sink in. Why, you might ask? It’s just a blog. No big
deal.
Well, for this Type-A gal, not being able to “do it all”
induces anxiety. I really thought I could—rebrand my blog, manage perfect
grades in college, work full time, mommy full time, plan a wedding, write creatively, play my guitar and perform out and about, revamp
my photography website, appear on the radio, etc.
And then, summer came. I wanted to sit at the beach. I
wanted to grow tomatoes. I wanted to ride my bike with my fiancé to the coffee
shop and pick out vegetables in the street. Without my Canon strapped to me.
Still, every time I marveled at the beauty in
something, found an interesting trinket at the thrift store, or put together a
fun secondhand outfit without tweeting, blogging or posting it, I felt a pang
of guilt. Maybe even panic. As if I didn’t record this event digitally, it
would disappear like a puff of smoke in to the sky.
I know that’s not true. In fact, living consciously and
being mindful of my existence as it happens is something I’ve been working on for
years, and as author Valerie
Alexander says, “Why put a screen between you and your life?” However, in
this digitally obsessed world, we need constant reminders to just live—even for
a moment.
When it comes to memories, my mother’s stories are
getting soft around the edges. Sometimes, she will tell me the same thing
twice, or thrice, or…I’ll stop, because I know you’re reading, mom. =) Still,
she’s always been a master at slowing down. Bringing a moment to a lull, she
would take a “mental snapshot” so she could remember an instant forever on our
family vacations, even if I was standing next to her with my trigger finger on
the shutter button. The way the cotton sheets smelled off the line; the grooves
in the knotty pine lining our family cabin. The shrieks of joy from my son's smiling face
as he ran around the yard with popsicle juice streaking down his t-shirt; the
pacifying sound of wind on Lake Huron.
Even though I often had a camera around my neck,
sometimes I followed her advice, and powered it down, turning my face to the
sun. I would close my eyes and relish a moment or two, and promise to keep the
memory forever.
I tried to
do this as much as possible in July. I still posted pics on Instagram, and I played around on Facebook. But I stopped recording and
sharing my life on the blog, and I quit worrying about what I would put
together next. I know that things will pick up for me where they left off; I’ll
get my new website up, I’ll keep writing and taking pictures, and things will
be better than ever. But this summer—before my life takes on massive change in
the fall (marriage, graduating from college with my degree in PR)—I’m blogging
casually, and enjoying the sunshine. I’ll be taking as many mental snapshots as
I can, trying hard to be mindful, and I deeply encourage you to do the same.
Breathe.
Be Present.
Repeat.
I’m
including a few pictures below of my life on Instagram as of late!
Please feel free to follow me!
 My lovely girlfriends threw me a darling tea party and bachelorette party! We even had a painting lesson. How fun, right? I'm SO blessed. |  I saw Erykah Badu in concert. FINALLY. Mind. Blown. (Recap on that soon.) |
 I tried layering salads in mason jars. Success! |  I enjoyed Moscow Mules with my toes in the grass. |
 I achieved a total loss of 18 lbs since February, but I'm more proud of my non-scale victories. |  I ran a 5k with my future mother-in-law for the first time! =) |
