Unlearning Society | Returning to a Natural Way of Life

Maggie: Welcome to Women Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie
Meara: and I'm Meara
Maggie: And we are today, we're going to discuss what this podcast is, what our intentions are for it, what the end game is, what our goal is.
Meara: They sure are.
Maggie: So for me personally...
Meara: You
Meara: I'm just spontaneous like that, what can I tell ya?
Maggie: So for me personally, I just want to help other women. I want to help people get to a natural way of life. A life that is closer to what our Creator intended for us. To be a part of this
Maggie: earth that we came from to kind of unlearn everything that society has taught us and to relearn a natural and harmonious way of living.
Meara: That's all you have to say. Those are your goals, Maggie.
Maggie: What?
Maggie: These are my goals, what are your goals, Meara?
Meara: Those are my goals. My goals are to... they kind of align with... well no, they don't kind of align. They actually really align with what you're wanting to do. My goals are to connect more with the earth and, as you said, with our creator, but my main focus currently...
Meara: in the position that I'm in in my life is to figure out who I am again. know, society has completely tore me away from who I am. And in high school, I went through so much and I actually found who I was. I began meditating, I began listening to these...
Meara: these different frequencies that just kind of, and we'll get into that later as well. But you know, I was just listening to different types of music that was just calming and soothing. And I felt really grounded in where I was. I still didn't know who I was because I was a teenager, but you know, looking back.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: It's unbelievable to me because I feel like I was more grounded then than I am now. Of course, who wouldn't be having seven kids grounded more when they're in high school than where they are now? But my goal is to help women.
Meara: refine and reconnect with themselves internally so that then they're able to do what you're wanting to do is, you know, find that peace within themselves to connect to the creator, to connect with the land, to be outside more, you know, and figure out that self-identity. That's huge to me. That's really big.
Maggie: Mm-hmm. Well, it, yeah, and it's a big part of having holistic health, you know, mental health. You know, it's a huge impact on our physical health. So to have that and to find that joy in life when, you know, there's just so much crazy. I mean, it's everything.
Meara: It is, and I believe once you line those up that everything will just start to fall into place.
Meara: Cooking maybe. I know you had a hard time cooking in the beginning and it was really intimidating to you and to me I was just like, what are you talking about? Cooking is not intimidating. That's my comfort zone. So of course it's gonna look different from you than it is for me. And likewise with everyone else. I have a friend who we went to dinner and we were discussing how to get things done and how to find
Maggie: in.
Meara: that you know that inner peace and she was telling me that she doesn't even cook she's she never cooks not even one egg that she orders everything before she comes home after you know she gets off work and
Meara: her boyfriend doesn't cook either. And I'm like, so then what do you do? You know, just eat out all the time. she said that it scares her that it intimidates her. And I never would have thought that just cooking even one egg would be so intimidating for somebody, but it is, you know, we're all at different walks of life. to be able to...
Maggie: Yeah. Yeah, for me, for me, that was, that was a huge thing. And there's still, you know, there's still even times when I'm just, I feel as though I just don't even know food. I just don't understand food. But, know, gardening and canning and making, you know, even just pickling, you really start to understand.
Meara: you
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: you aspects of vegetables and plants. And then you start seeing how they work all together and then you incorporate herbs. But there's just so much, there's so much to know. And until you...
Meara: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's intimidating for me.
Maggie: You're just gonna get in there and start doing it, you know?
Meara: Well I did last year with your help, which by the way the one that you planted ended up dying my chamomile. I was like she didn't plant that deep enough. I was kind of disappointed. But everything else turned out fine except for my tomatoes.
Meara: Yeah, it's very intimidating.
Maggie: Our garden was terrible last year. Just, you know, this weather was nuts. We had a lot of things fail. We had a lot of pest issues. But, you know, every year it gets better and it gets easier. You learn more. You know, the best thing you can do is just to start out slow.
Maggie: I know we come from the society where we want everything right away. We want it all. When you think about homesteading, it's so overwhelming. You need gardens, you need animals, you need, you know, yeah. And it becomes this whole huge.
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: Cans of food.
Maggie: overwhelming world and then people stop doing it and they go back to relying on on society they're relying on grocery stores and you know that's okay it's comfort
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: Well, because that's comfort. I mean, yeah, it's okay, but if you're wanting to change, know, and the whole point of our existence, this women folk revival, it's also too...
Meara: change and go back to our roots. So this is not just some like typical fad diet. I'm gonna change this and then this is gonna happen. Then I can go back to being who I'm used to being. No, you know, most majority of us listening here are 40s. You can't just do the same thing you were doing years ago and then lose all that weight like I did. man, I miss those days. But you know, it's a lifestyle change. This is going to take a long time and that's why we're wanting to do this.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Mm-hmm
Meara: you know, together and create this community of people. So, you know, not only are we reaching out to them and helping them, but we also get feedback from them as well, because that's how we learn. You know, it takes a village. We need a village. Nobody has a village anymore. Nobody has the time for a village.
Maggie: Mm-hmm. It does. does.
Meara: Which is funny to me because if you have time to doom scroll on your phone, you most definitely have time to create a village for sure. So we're the village. Come on in. We're waiting. Anyone's welcome.
Maggie: time for, yeah, absolutely.
Meara: Well, you know, that's getting scratched.
Maggie: And yes.
Maggie: Everybody will have something to learn from this, but our focus is women. Women and mothers. Yeah. So.
Meara: for sure.
Meara: Women and mothers, yeah.
Meara: Yeah, it's tough out there these days, like you said, with society.
Maggie: Well, there's so much information. There's so much information flying in from every angle. It's very difficult to know what to listen to, what not to listen to. You know, all we can do is return to our roots and return to the wild and we will find the answers that we need.
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: What's real?
Maggie: I think I have found a lot. And also in connection with other women, you know, just just you and I just are our friendship and both wanting to be on this path and kind of doing it together has gotten us so much further along than we would have been on our own.
Meara: Yes, I believe so. Yeah.
Meara: Yeah, I think so. I wouldn't know a lot of stuff that I know now if it wasn't for you. Yeah, for sure. So could you imagine having a whole community of women coming together and sharing all their journey and information and knowledge and wisdom that they have? Yeah. I think so too. I'm looking forward to this adventure.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Yep.
Maggie: It'll be great.
Maggie: I am also. And we have a lot that we want to do. We have our community page on Facebook where we can discuss things with people who join our show. And that'll be great. in the future, we can have opportunities for us to get together in person.
Meara: Yeah.
Meara: Yes.
Meara: Right.
Meara: Yeah.
Maggie: and do things, whether it be teaching herbs or some kind of...
Maggie: How to make one egg.
Maggie: how to make one egg. It is, believe me, it is real. It is.
Meara: It is. I got it. I got it. Because that's how gardening was for me.
Maggie: It's so easy not to cook. I grew up watching my mom cook and my grandma cook and I would help every once in a while. But then I just never, I just never really.
Meara: Thought about it. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Maggie: thought about it and got into it. And we're all, you know, even somebody like me who's kind of always been, you know, an oddball and not really partaking to things in society, I still got caught up in it. I still lost my way and became very dependent on.
Maggie: on society in the system, even though, even though I always knew that it was the wrong way.
Maggie: So.
Meara: knew or felt because I didn't quite know yet. I didn't understand how to live that life. I thought it was just something totally out there. I knew I felt it in my heart that this isn't the way to be, but I didn't know how to not be that way. Do get what I'm saying?
Maggie: I knew without knowing why I knew and that's something that I just always struggled with and they didn't.
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: And I think that, go ahead. I think that's something that a lot of our listeners will be coming in with the same thoughts of, but it's just, you know, there's just no time or it just doesn't make sense to start doing this because it's something totally different.
Maggie: It feels like there's no time, but there is time. You just have to learn how to do things differently and look at time differently, you know, and really think about the things that you're doing. And that's one thing that we talk about doing things with intention, you know, cooking with intention. Now I am...
Meara: Yeah.
Meara: Thank
Meara: Right.
Maggie: You know, I'm altering recipes and making substitutions. I don't use baking powder when I make pancakes for my children. I substitute that with arrowroot powder and vinegar, baking soda. I just, not that, you know, baking powder is fine, but it's not good for you in large amounts.
Meara: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Maggie: So if you're doing a lot of that, it's bad for you. I use honey instead of sugar. So it's I never imagined myself being able to do something like that. And it actually happened very quickly. Go ahead.
Meara: Great.
Meara: Yeah.
Meara: Yeah, it's funny you-
Meara: It's funny you bring that up because when you start getting into the midst of cooking,
Meara: And then all of a sudden you're like making this now more often than not, you're like, oh, wait a minute, why am I putting this in here? I could be using something else. And that's where the simplicity comes in of now you're just starting to substitute and you don't even realize you're doing it until, you know, you're just sitting at the table one day and you're like, oh my gosh, pat on the back. I actually did a positive substitute with this. I'm actually, and then you realize I'm actually cooking. So it's scary, but once you get into it, I tell you.
Maggie: Mm-hmm Yeah And it and it works in so many different ways too, you know something We're all trying to eat healthier and get more nutrition in this world of you know nutrition devoid food that we're just immersed in Even something as simple when I make I make my own taco seasoning now
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: When I'm making that I throw in ground flax It doesn't alter the flavor at all, but it adds so much nutrition to it And it's just something I never would have thought before but it just popped in my mind one day and as you get on this journey That's what you'll find you'll feel so Overwhelmed in the beginning and then things would just start Just start coming to you. Yeah
Meara: Yeah.
Meara: Mm-hmm. Nutrients. Yeah, we do that too.
Meara: you
Meara: making sense yeah yeah I mean
Meara: It just still kind of boggles my mind, you know, and I, grew up kind of like in the microwave-ish generation where my mom, like my parents both worked and she never had the time. So it was always TV dinners or something that she just cooked in the oven or something she threw in the crock pot. And then here, my husband, came from another country. He never cooked obviously in the middle East. His mom would always cook. And then all of sudden when he was out of work, because we were waiting for him to get his green card, he just started cooking. And then all of a sudden he started whipping up these South Asian
Maggie: You
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: dishes and I'm like, my god, I really cannot cook. But then after a year or two, because it was so intimidating and he's like, just learn it. Really just learn it takes nothing. I'm like, are you kidding me? You have like 60 spices on this counter and you're just throwing stuff in and I'm like, what are you doing? I finally took it upon myself to start cooking out. Do I like cooking? No, because I like his the best. But I do cook more than I ever used to before. have my kids haven't seen fat.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: three littles don't even know what fast food is. My two middle ones, you know, we used to do fast food all the time when he first got here. And we just realized that we were really feeling like crap. all of these things that we have started changing and implementing with what you brought into this conversation is all about also acting with intention. Even if you don't realize it, switching out something that is bad for you and swapping something in that does
Maggie: That's awesome.
Meara: better for your health is an intention. And that these are the things that we need to do for our creator. That's why we were put here. We were put here to act with intention, doing things with intention. So knowing that something is not good and being able to swap or, you know, doing the laundry because it's a chore. We don't want to do the laundry. But when you change it around and you're like, okay, I'm going to do the laundry today. It's going to make me feel good. It's going to smell nice.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: out warm, it feels good, when you put these thoughts into your head, you know, these are intentions that you're doing because you're doing it not only for yourself because it has to get done, but you're doing it for your kids and it's comfort for them also like it is, it really is. Yes.
Maggie: It's a service, you know, and that feels good. You know, when you really go to the root of that, it's a service for two-year children. It's a service to your husband. And that in itself is a service to our creator. You know, we're taking care of the family unit. That's what women do. That's what we do as mothers.
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: Yeah. And not as an expectation. Some people are going to look at this and think, well, that's your culture. You feel like you have to do things for, you know, your spouse because that's what you were taught to do. And no, actually, that's not what you were taught to do. It's not because you have to do it for your spouse.
Maggie: That's not what we were taught to do.
Meara: You're doing it out of love for your spouse and it makes you feel good and it makes them feel good. It's all about intention. I don't have to do anything for my spouse if I don't want to. You know, even when I'm mad at him, I don't want to do anything for him. He can go kick rocks for all I care. You know what I'm saying? But I still do it because I'm his wife and I would hope that he would do the same for me if I was in whatever situation that, you know, I would be in in that moment. So that's what it all comes down to. That's what we're all about. We're all about bringing
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Yes.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: that the way of living deep in our roots for how we were intended to live to make it more enjoyable, not just like chores, you know, and it's amazing how you how you feel once these things happen. Now, I'm not perfect. And I know you're not perfect because I'm still mom and I still have five girls at home that I'm raising. So
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: Bye bye.
Meara: Yeah, I don't need to say any more than that, but with everything else that you are learning to do with intention makes life easier on you and everybody else. So I'm excited to start this journey.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Maggie: It does. I am too. I just real quick, I want to touch back when you brought up the microwave. I want to touch back on that. I have always, I have always despised the microwave. I used it, but I just, I just knew it was, I hate, I hate to use the word evil, but evil. And when you and I reconnected and you found out
Meara: Mm-hmm.
Meara: So it's evil.
Maggie: I mentioned something about the microwave. You were. Yes. You were so surprised that I had a microwave and after you said that, I was so surprised that I had a microwave. It just never even dawned on me. It was, it was, and it's now what been it's been a long time that. Since we've used it.
Meara: Girl, I thought you were nuts.
Meara: Yeah, and was out on your porch in the next week.
Meara: funny.
Meara: Yeah.
Maggie: It's in the garage right now and we'll, you know, we'll... Yes.
Meara: And that's what made you start cooking. I remember I was talking to you that one day and you said, well, I'm kind of stressed out. I don't know if we should meet tonight because, I just, and I said, well, what's going on? And you said, well, I'm cooking, but then I don't have the ingredients for this and then I'm doing that. And then I remember looking at you and I said, Maggie, did you throw away your microwave? And it was so emotional for me. I started almost literally started crying. I really don't like microwaves. They scare the heck out of me. So yeah, that was.
Maggie: you
Maggie: No, yeah, nor do I. Nor do I. But my, if I were to give any advice right now, it would be to get rid of your microwaves. It's so, it seems so daunting. It can, you know. You don't need it. It's not doing anything for you. It's killing any kind of nutrition that's
Meara: was funny.
Maggie: in the food you put into it and it's sending out you know waves of destruction waves of destruction just get rid of them
Meara: It really does kill your nutrition.
Meara: Try telling that to a mother with kids. Get rid of your microwave, but how do you heat up the milk? how do we, first of all, you're not supposed to heat up milk. That's a whole nother story. But yeah, get rid of your microwaves. Get rid of your microwaves and let us know that you got rid of your microwaves by joining us on our Facebook page at Women Folk Revival. We would love to have you in our community.
Maggie: Yeah, do it do it all on the stovetop
Maggie: Yes.
Maggie: Let's do it.
Meara: I'm just gonna ask a few questions. It'll prompt you to answer a few questions and join. We are going to have some information up there for you to see and you will see on our Facebook page the microwave discussion. Let's get into it. Cross over from here to Facebook and have that microwave discussion. I wanna hear from you. Do you still use a microwave? Do you depend on your microwave? Who doesn't have our microwave and who does? I wanna do a poll.
Meara: I would love to touch base next week and see who has what and who's doing what. So as we wrap up today's episode.
Maggie: Yeah.
Maggie: I like it.
Meara: We would like to invite you back next week because we're gonna be diving into something that is really close to us. And that is why simple living matters, especially for us as mothers. And again, we don't want this to be a one-sided conversation. So if you join us on Facebook, we will continue these conversations and share encouragement and wisdom and learn from each other. So we would love for you to come be a part of it because your voice matters.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Meara: You will find us here each week on Wednesday at 5 a.m. Eastern Time and we look forward to seeing you next week. So until then remember.
Maggie: Stay rooted, stay wild.
Meara: Stay wild.