Simple Living Is a Lifeline for Mothers

Meara (00:01.282)
Welcome back to Women Folk Revival. I'm Meara

Maggie (00:04.46)
I'm Maggie

Meara (00:06.676)
And before we get started on why simple living is a lifeline for mothers, we have to share something that blew our minds. We looked at our stats this morning and we actually have people listening in from Ireland. So that's pretty incredible. Thanks for being a part of our village and welcome.

Maggie (00:21.037)
Very cool.

Meara (00:24.406)
In our first episode, we talked about true wellness being a possible without spiritual grounding and that the body, mind and soul are one. To Maggie and myself, revival means unlearning the fast paced toxic habits of modern society and to try to reclaim, not try to, to reclaim the life that we were intended to live. So today we're going to speak a bit on the why of simple living and how it's not a trend or a

special look. It's actually a lifeline for the modern mother. We are here to talk about how going back to a simpler way of life is actually the most forward-thinking thing that a mother can do for her family's health and peace. So, Meggie, let's talk about the moment modern life became too much. What was the moment for you that you realized modern life was just becoming way too overwhelming?

and stimulating for you.

Maggie (01:28.611)
For me personally, I have had that feeling all my life and it's only gotten more intense. As a child, I was very quiet. I did not talk a lot to anybody.

I watched people and I observed and I saw the way people acted and showed off what they had, all the new things that were coming out and who were getting them and who weren't and how people are being treated if they didn't have them and how people just thought they were so great when they did have them and I just thought to myself, you know, like, bye.

Like, does this make you so much better? Why does it make your life so much better? And even inside of church, I would go with my parents and I would see the same thing in church. And I just felt, wow, this is not...

This is not how life was supposed to be. And without really understanding it at the time, that's how I felt. So, I mean, it's always been there with me. And now it's just totally insane.

Maggie (02:44.939)
It's this life now is completely unrecognizable to me. The way people act nowadays is completely unrecognizable to me. I don't know. It's intense.

Meara (02:59.256)
But do you feel like nowadays that it's not affecting you as much as it was because you see that? So.

Maggie (03:07.409)
and I have distanced myself from it. Big time. Yeah. We live out in the boons and we live in a hauler and we love it.

Meara (03:10.754)
Yeah, so have I.

Meara (03:16.078)
The holler, you live in the holler.

Maggie (03:23.609)
Yeah, we we bought a house that was built by hand and we know some of our neighbors were Involved in building it and it's really cool But it was neglected for a while and it sat empty for a while. So needed a lot of work, you know I went nine months without a kitchen sink and

Meara (03:43.702)
I remember that.

Maggie (03:46.114)
It it sucked, but it was great at the same time because it's just, it's real living, you know? And it didn't matter if we had a sink or not because we're out here in the middle of nowhere. Nobody's, you know, coming over except, you know, my parents and, and it's great. And that's, that's just what life should be. It should just be living and not worrying about what you have, not worrying about what you don't have. Who's doing what.

Meara (04:02.465)
Right.

Maggie (04:15.277)
I don't follow celebrities, I don't particularly like celebrities.

Meara (04:15.522)
I agree.

Yeah, I hear all of that stuff on social media, but I don't really f-

I don't follow the trend. For me, it was high school when I still felt like I needed to be a part of society. was the pressure from my friends, but I felt so odd and disconnected because it didn't feel right for me. And not until I had my third child around the age of 33 was when I realized, okay, I need to be doing, making her food and not feeding her out of jars and just kind of

Maggie (04:34.564)
yeah.

Meara (04:55.514)
starting to disconnect myself from society. So I started losing friends because we just weren't on the same page as one another where they were doing all the trends and then their kids were doing all the trends and I ended up becoming a soccer mom and I loved it, you know, those first few years. But like I said, towards the end when I was pregnant, I was coaching and I'm like, what am I doing? This is ridiculous. I hate this. It makes me anxious and nervous and I don't like the way it makes me feel.

Maggie (05:09.049)
you

Meara (05:25.424)
I guess for the past about decade, I have been slowly moving away from the pressure of society, even though it's still there from day to day, because like you and everybody else, have phones, and it's just very overstimulating. Social media makes us feel like we have to do everything perfect, and that is exactly why we have this podcast, because we are quite the opposite of perfect. I don't ever wanna be perfect. We always have to look good.

Maggie (05:34.317)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (05:49.709)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (05:55.436)
We have to be everywhere at once and we're always looking at the screen. So we end up losing that real connection with our kids and our bodies and most importantly our faith. But if we put the phones down and we stop trying to meet everyone's expectation, then I feel like we will finally get a chance. That's when we get that chance to rest following our own slow pace. It's the only way that we would be able to hear our thoughts again.

Maggie (06:04.672)
Yeah.

Maggie (06:18.506)
Mm-hmm. And then that...

That pull to society is so strong. It's so strong. I got totally caught up in it too. I, you know, I really started to notice, as I said, I people watched how people reacted to me and just how out of place I always was. And man, I tried real hard for a long time to be like everybody else and to be a part of that world. And man, did I make an absolute mess out of

Meara (06:25.217)
is.

Meara (06:50.814)
Yeah.

Maggie (06:51.555)
everything and I was miserable so miserable but you know thank goodness

Thank goodness I did do that and I made every mistake that I did and I destroyed everything that I did. Because I'm here now and I know I have been on that side. I have been a part of it. I know how absolutely horrible it is. And that's a great place to be, know, is back where I belong. And on this journey now with you and speaking to all these other women,

Meara (07:07.107)
Yeah.

Meara (07:17.634)
Right.

Maggie (07:29.786)
Thank goodness you guys all made the mistakes you did too, because now you're here also.

Meara (07:29.801)
I know.

Meara (07:35.246)
Thank God.

Thank God, know, not until just a few years ago when we reconnected, I was already on, we were both actually already on that path of the actual transition for.

remembering how to live with the seasons and how to listen to what our bodies actually need in order to stay healthy and Being disconnected from nature just makes me feel off I mean we weren't made to live in this concrete high-speed world, you know and so When we finally reconnected and we were like, oh my gosh, we have everything in common as far as on the path that we're on

Maggie (07:59.555)
Yeah.

Meara (08:25.45)
It just was kind of instantaneous for us. think that's when we just started, we hit the ground running like, okay, we wanna do this and we wanna do that. But we wanna connect the whole world to what we're doing. making, this was the best choice that we could have made. Getting back outside, simplifying our lives and helping us feel human again. Back to the basics.

Maggie (08:47.255)
Yeah.

You know, it's funny, you hear people talk about going on vacation, like to a cabin or into the woods or in some kind of, you know, natural environment like that or to the beach. And and people feel alive and they feel healthy and wonderful. And then they come back to to their regular lives and they become miserable again. Think about that. We were we are supposed to be in the natural world.

Meara (09:03.8)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (09:14.53)
back into the same routine.

Maggie (09:19.354)
Now when we go, you know, to the city and places with a lot of buildings and a lot of people and like no nature at all, I get anxiety, real bad anxiety. And that, mean, get away from that kind of life if you can, when you can. You will not regret it. You will not regret it.

Meara (09:31.004)
yeah.

Meara (09:39.575)
Yeah.

Meara (09:45.014)
It's also like we spoke on our last show about intentions. Even if you are that person that's like, well, I can't leave the city. work in the city. you just can't escape. It's just about the intention. Take those five minutes to step outside and just breathe in that.

Maggie (09:55.8)
for you.

Meara (10:04.75)
we would like to think it's fresh air. And take yourself back to that moment of peace just for a few minutes. Just stop. Just don't think of anything that's going on around you. And at first it's hard to do, but then you start to realize, look, there's these little creatures crawling around and there's actually flowers on these trees and there's life. We're alive. The thing that

Maggie (10:13.752)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (10:27.832)
There's life.

Meara (10:34.754)
really is depressing about all of this is the physical, spiritual and emotional cost that's involved with being on our phone constantly, living that fast paced life, or constantly on the go. We think that we don't have any time to stop and slow down. Trust me, you do. That one click buying method of Amazon being so readily available or what's that door to ash. man, we talked about ordering food and stuff.

Maggie (11:04.449)
Yeah.

Meara (11:04.624)
stuff, DoorDash for you might be more difficult, but for me it's like 20 minutes away. We used to... Amazon is... No bueno.

Maggie (11:07.934)
I don't do DoorDash. Now Amazon is a different story.

Maggie (11:17.688)
I don't, you know what, the less I have to go anywhere, and I know it's bad and I know I need to stop, but if I don't have to go anywhere, I have more time to be outside and to be doing all the things that I wanna do. So I am on that Amazon bandwagon for sure. For sure.

Meara (11:39.586)
Yeah.

Yeah, I don't like I don't go to the grocery store anymore either. It's been several years, especially since COVID that I stopped going to the grocery store. But then just recently, did I realize I do but just recently did I realize my gosh, I kind of actually, even though I don't like the environment, because it seems like people are just only out for themselves and don't even recognize like people bump into me in the store and I'm like, excuse me. And they don't even look at me. It's like they're walking zombies, you know, because they're such in a hurry to get

Maggie (11:49.728)
You have them delivered.

Meara (12:10.17)
to where they need to go and nobody else is important. I hate that. Like I'm just kind of like,

Maggie (12:15.808)
I don't even think it's totally that. I think that people are so physically and mentally sick from all the poison that they are consuming, whether it be from their food, from the water, from the air, from electronics. We are being blasted with poison and waves, we'll say more waves of destruction.

Meara (12:22.036)
disconnected.

Meara (12:30.35)
electronics.

Meara (12:36.118)
Meara (12:44.364)
Yeah.

Maggie (12:45.848)
I mean, it's coming from, you know, for us every avenue and there's so much research that has been done and shown that it does affect us mentally on a, on a very high level. I don't even think people realize really what's going on around them.

Meara (13:04.822)
Yeah, I don't either.

Maggie (13:05.004)
They know that they need to go to the store. They know that they need to get food. They know, you know, that they're going to have to go to work tomorrow. But it's, they forget that there's, there's actual life still happening around them. And it's, it's a fog.

Meara (13:12.376)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (13:19.106)
Well, I get it. I've... I've been there, you know?

Not just until recently did I tell myself, I just kept praying and praying. Please, please give me the strength to slow down. I cannot keep living like this. You know, when we're choosing fast over healthy and over intentional, it leads to poor nutrition and it leaves our bodies feeling absolutely drained and mentally foggy. An emotional toll. Yes, we're never truly there with our spouse, with our children, with our families.

Maggie (13:44.268)
And it leaves our souls empty.

Meara (13:53.216)
we lose that joy and peace that comes from simple acts like stirring your coffee with that wonderful sugar at the bottom. know? Or watching your garden grow.

Maggie (13:53.901)
Yeah.

Meara (14:07.894)
Just the cost of convenience is just keeping us in this state of complete toxicity and burnout because we never slow down and are just in the moment and we need to choose the slow way. We need to fight back against this world. This is our resistance because this world wants us to keep spending and stressing and the more we buy less and do more for ourselves is how we are able to reclaim that freedom from

the toxicity and the fast-paceness and the disconnect from our families. So that's that's what I think about that.

Maggie (14:48.632)
No, I yeah, I agree and even It's it's a hard process because even being where we're at you and I still get caught up in it too. It's just

Meara (15:04.401)
for sure.

Maggie (15:05.656)
It's like that little, you know, when you see the cartoons and there's a little angel over here and a little devil over here. This guy is just for whatever reason, he's got the megaphone, you know, and the little angel has its mouth bound or something because all we're hearing is just that that bad noise in the background. we're like, yeah, and it's just so easy to. So easy to take the way out, easy way out.

Meara (15:09.838)
Yeah.

Meara (15:20.972)
Yeah.

Meara (15:29.42)
Go back. It sure is. With that being said, we need faith to be.

our anchor for simplicity. know, living simple is not just, like I said in the beginning, a trend. It's a way to be able to trust our Creator more and the world laughs. When we slow down, we can hear our wisdom and our Creator's speaking to us. know, well, not speaking to us, but you know, just being there in the moment in the silence. Motherhood is sacred work and it deserves all of the attention that we

Maggie (15:59.16)
Sure.

Meara (16:07.024)
can get it and not just leftover energy that we have. So being able to trust in your faith really helps you realize that you don't need to keep up with everything else to just be enough. You are already enough. Living with intention, choosing what matters and letting the rest go.

Maggie (16:20.321)
Yeah.

Maggie (16:28.885)
And you know, if you slow down enough and get things quiet enough and get all the blockage from your pineal gland out of the way, we just may hear our Creator talking to us again. You know? Thanks.

Meara (16:37.89)
Hmm. Ooh.

Meara (16:43.864)
That was a nice word you just used. Pineal gland. Maggie, welcome. Welcome to the world of healthcare. I love it. man. Yeah, we need to just start choosing natural routines, like using herbs, swapping actual herbs for, you know, the bottled herbs or.

Maggie (16:50.519)
You

Maggie (16:54.497)
Hahahaha

Meara (17:11.008)
and Whole Foods wherever you can find Whole Foods. And if you can't, that's fine. Everybody's at a different place in their life. Just start being more intentional. yes.

Maggie (17:17.111)
And start, start slow. It's such a punch in the throat to finally find out how...

how wrong they've been doing us. And you want to just redo everything and relearn everything. Let's start slow.

because we, me and my husband, we were the ones where we were like, we need to this, this, this, and this, and we need all of this in order to do this. And it just got so overwhelming. We just didn't know which way we were going anymore. And we were getting so confused and it just took us years longer than it should have to, to have gotten where, where we are now. So start slow baby steps, because once you do those initial first steps, it starts becoming a real part of you and you're able to make

Meara (17:50.648)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (17:55.404)
Yeah.

Meara (18:04.12)
Yeah.

Meara (18:12.705)
It does.

Maggie (18:13.302)
more changes. So start slow, best way.

Meara (18:16.718)
It really does. When you know are the loys. When you lower the noise and the busyness of your life, know, our nervous systems can finally start to relax. And especially when it comes to children, they don't need a jam-packed schedule or a mountain of plastic toys. My kids still play with boxes. Hence why I always use the excuse for buying from Amazon.

Maggie (18:20.472)
you

Meara (18:42.254)
No, I'm just kidding. But you know, they need a mom who's calm and present and simple living for our children. It helps children learn how to be bored. It is, and they're always like, I'm so bored. And then I'm just like, oh yes, you feel what I felt when growing up, you know?

Maggie (18:55.352)
Boredom is great.

Maggie (19:01.706)
I know my my kids come to me they're like I'm bored I'm like good good for you

Meara (19:08.802)
Yeah, you know, that's where their real creativity and imagination start to grow, especially when it's nice outside and they're able to go outside and just dig in the dirt. And I could care less if you get those clothes nasty. It's not like we go anywhere anyway. Get them dirty, get them so dirty. I can't get the stains out. I just want to know that you are so well nourished in your environment, you know, with a home that has a steady rhythm. It gives them a sense of safety and,

Maggie (19:11.768)
Yes.

Maggie (19:20.239)
yeah.

Maggie (19:24.749)
Yes.

Maggie (19:38.752)
and purity.

Meara (19:38.768)
roots that will carry the, yeah, carry for the rest of their life. They will remember these things. yeah. Simplicity isn't about doing less.

Maggie (19:43.062)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Meara (19:50.964)
It's about living more intentionally with faith and connection at the center of it all. That's what we believe. So think about one area of your home where you can stop managing the chaos and start inviting in the peace. And real quick, Meggie, earlier you had given me actually the perfect example of this. So if you could just share that real fast with the rest of us.

Maggie (20:15.05)
Yeah, so we've we've got this area that's cut out of our wall and it's got like different level of shelves and it was just always a catch-all for anything and everything. It was just clutter clutter all the time and so finally I decided you know my kids they bring me on a daily basis rocks and sticks and animal bones and flowers all kinds of things and I just started putting them on this little pass-through area and now

you cannot like anything else up on there because it's just if you set something on there it's gonna fall right off because all the rocks are you know uneven so it's it's a wonderful place I look there and I see the love for my children they've given me these beautiful gifts that they found outside and and and there's no there's no clutter yeah

Meara (20:53.088)
Yeah.

Meara (21:08.342)
I love it. I love it. All right, well.

Maggie (21:12.696)
So yeah, so next episode, let's talk about that. We are going to discuss the woman's body and how natural health is a sacred duty. And I'm super excited for it. It's one of my favorite topics.

Meara (21:17.037)
Yeah.

Meara (21:28.408)
Mine too.

Maggie (21:29.59)
Yeah. So be sure to join us next week at 5 a.m. next Wednesday for another episode of Women Full Corvival. And also visit us on our Facebook community page, Womenfolk Revival. And for more information, more conversation, we'll have to check out that poll for the microwave and see how that's going. Super excited about that.

Meara (21:49.304)
Yes.

Meara (21:54.472)
yes, yes, I'm gonna hop on that right after this. Yes, me too.

Maggie (21:59.608)
But until then, stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (22:04.692)
Stay wild.