Alarm clock rings, feet hit the floor and the rush of the day begins. I start with a shower, get dressed, and pack a lunch for myself. Then it's back upstairs to wake up the children, pulling them out of their weary slumber, battling their tired little bodies to get dressed amidst their tears, yelling as the clock hands continue to move faster than I can, that we need to hurry.
Into the car we go. Quick kisses and goodbyes and rush off to work. Rush kids through content, rush to library class, rush out to the bus. Pack up my belongings and work to bring home, then back to the car to pick up the children. Plop them in front of the TV so I can hurry to prepare dinner, then quickly eat. Soon it's bedtime and the day is gone. This was my life. This was how every single day went. It's a typical day in the life of a working mom, something that so many can relate to. But for me, it was heartbreaking. Though I loved my job teaching in a brick and mortar; I loved working with children and creating meaningful learning opportunities to ignite a spark, I would dread each day. It wasn't the students- I loved them deeply. It was the rushing. It was being away from my own children daily as they were raised by someone else. It was the feeling of the sand slipping through the hourglass so fast I barely realized it was flowing at all. It was in these moments I realized the weight of this modern life fatigue. Everything in our modern world is about bigger, better, faster, stronger. How can we make more money? How can I buy this thing? We work to fill our pockets so that we can buy things that we don't really need only to buy bigger houses to fill with the things we continue to buy. We become slaves to our homes, to our things, and like a ravenous monster, the greed within us always wants more, demanding to be fed. The weight of this can be overwhelming. As we look to the past for answers, it's the homesteading era that has a magical romance about it, drawing us into the allure of simpler times. What would it be like if we lived then? How would our lives be different if we let go of the world, and turned back to the traditions of the past? For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
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