Six Intentional Practices To Slow Down Life In 2017

If I had to choose a few words to define our lifestyle, I would select slow, intentional, and joyful.  We want our schedules to be open so that we have time for the spontaneous, ordinary moments of relationship, family, and community that make life worth living. We’ve already done so much to try to hold on to a slow pace of life, but as I look ahead at 2017, I know I still have some areas where I can grow.

These are six things I’m hoping to incorporate into my daily life as we move further into 2017.  They might not be that original or even specific, but I am excited to see how God will use these things to draw me into deeper intimacy with Him and with the people I love!

1) Putting down my phone.

This one is probably first on a lot of people’s lists but it has gotten especially bad for me since I’ve started staying at home with Caleb.  Mindlessly scrolling Facebook is a great way to fill a few moments when I’m feeling bored or the countdown until nap time feels long. I love the community of social media, but I also know that it’s a quick place I turn instead of facing my own boredom and being more present where God has me.  I don’t know if I need to set clear times each day to check social media or what, but I’m feeling a push to take steps back here.

2) Reading, reading, and more reading.

I have been a complete and total bookworm for as long as I can remember, but several years of long reading assignments in college and grad school took the joy out of it for me.  I feel so cozy and at home when I’m curled up on the couch with a book and I love having a book to turn to when I have a spare ten minutes.  This year, my goal is to always have something I’m reading, whether it’s fiction, faith, self-help, political, or just about anything.  Reading makes me feel so much more grounded and rested than scrolling social media, and I’m hoping always having a book around will help me turn to reading more.

Most of my reading looked like this in 2016 (understandably, I guess!) but I’m excited to expand my selection this year!

3) Getting down on the floor with my son.

This is something I actually felt pretty good about in 2016 and I want to continue this intentional practice.  Sure, I have moments where I’m doing stuff around the house and Caleb plays on his own.  I love that he’s learning to be independent and comfortable being alone, but I also want to make sure I’m consistently getting down on his level to talk, sing, play, and interact.  Getting to share daily life with him is the biggest blessing of staying home and even though it’s sometimes “boring” or slow, I want to commit to do this multiple times a day without feeling like I’m wasting time.  That time with him is oh so valuable and I know it will be gone before I know it and he’ll be off having little boy adventures of his own!

4) Exercising consistently.

Even though I have a great example in my rock star, marathon-running husband, I’m not so great at this one, especially when the weather’s bad.  These last two years of being pregnant and nursing my son have shown me how incredible and capable my body is, and I want to honor that by choosing to fill my open moments with walks, yoga routines, or other activities that are good for me physically.  I’m sure there will be plenty of times where I’d rather fill the time with a TV show or wasting time on my computer, but I know I will feel and be better if I choose to get up and move.  Those moments of movement, especially when they’re outside, leave me feeling so much more anchored and energized than 30 minutes of Netflix-binging.

Who wouldn’t want to go on a walk with this adorable walking buddy?

5) Pursuing quality time with other women at least once a week.

Having more openness in my schedule to pour into relationships was one of the things I most looked forward to about quitting my job to stay home with Caleb.  While I’ve definitely seen that happen in some regards, I also think I could be much more intentional to make this happen on a regular basis.  There are so many sweet women I know that I could make an effort to go on a walk or grab coffee with and I want to do that at least once or twice a week this year.  I don’t realize how much I miss moments of friendship and community until I sit down with a friend and realize how sweet it is!

6) Being a student of the Bible instead of a consumer.

The last few years my Bible-reading has been all over the place.  I’ve struggled to feel direction of what to read and I missed the emotional experiences I had with Scripture in the first few years of really following Jesus.  This past year, I’ve  felt really convicted that Scripture isn’t just meant to speak to all my emotions – it is also something I need to study deeply and learn from.  This year, I’m committing to work through a chronological plan of the whole Bible.  I’ve already started reading one through the YouVersion app using my ESV study bible, and even though it’s not always the most emotionally-inspiring stuff, I’m already learning so, so much about the timeline of God’s story, the history and context behind it, and much more.  I am excited what I’ll learn as I try to be more of a student of Scripture this year!

I know that life happens and it’s hard to hold steady with all of these things at once.  But as I look ahead at my life, I hope and pray that these practices will become engrained in who I am and how I live live each day.

What are some intentional practices you are hoping to incorporate into your lives in 2017?