When Did Living Become So Much Work? | The Convenience Trap & Slow Living

We have machines that wash our clothes and our dishes. We can have food brought straight to our door. We can buy almost anything without ever leaving the house.

We have more things saving us time than probably any generation before us.

So where the heck did all that saved time go?

Because somehow, we're still rushing. We're still exhausted. We're still saying we don't have enough time.

This week on Womenfolk Revival, we're sitting down to talk about something we've both been noticing in our own lives: somewhere along the way, we started treating normal human effort like something we needed to escape.

Cooking became a chore. Growing food became a hobby. Making things became a craft. Walking became exercise. Sitting outside became self-care.

Things that were once simply part of living became things we had to intentionally add back into our lives.

And it made us wonder: have we confused an easier life with a better life?

Before we even get into that conversation, we're trying something new.

Quite a few of you have told us that you want to hear more about us, not just the topic we're discussing that week, but what's actually happening in our homes and our lives. So we're pulling up our chairs a little earlier and catching up before we get into the episode.

And this week, there was plenty to catch up on.

Maggie somehow managed to turn a barefoot family hike into a six-hour adventure lost in the woods. Meara is still moving into her family's new little homestead, had their first fire outside, is making plans for the garden, and is preparing to bring her older girls home for homeschooling.

We're talking about fall, old books, bread making, gardens, family life, slowing down and everything else that naturally comes up when two friends sit down at the table together.

And eventually, it brings us right back to the question at the heart of this episode.

Since moving onto land, Meara's life has technically gotten harder. There is always something that needs to be cleaned, planted, moved, fixed, planned or taken care of.

But something else is happening too.

The days feel fuller.

The family is outside more. They're making things. Planning things. Working toward something together. They're talking more and listening to one another more. Instead of simply existing in the same house, one person on a phone, another watching television, everyone waiting for the day to pass, they're participating in their own lives.

And Maggie has experienced much of the same thing as her family has intentionally slowed down and brought older skills and rhythms back into their home.

We talk about milling grain by hand, baking bread, hanging laundry in the sun, growing food, puzzles, old-fashioned games, looking at the stars, sitting outside, allowing ourselves to be bored again and teaching our children that everything in life isn't supposed to happen instantly.

We also talk about our phones and what happened to all those little empty spaces we used to have.

Waiting somewhere? Phone.

Sitting in the car? Phone.

Standing in line? Phone.

When was the last time we simply sat somewhere and had absolutely nothing to do?

Because boredom wasn't always useless. Sometimes that empty space was where we thought, noticed, imagined, created and figured things out.

And maybe our children need some of that space too.

We want our kids to make things, grow things, wait for things, mess things up and try again. We want them to experience what happens when something is difficult and they finally figure it out for themselves.

That moment of realizing:

That's how we begin to understand what we're capable of.

None of this means we're throwing out the washing machine and rejecting every modern invention we own.

Absolutely not.

We like convenience too.

Sometimes convenience genuinely gives us more room to live. There are times when an electric grain mill makes a whole lot more sense than sitting there turning a hand crank. There are days when the washing machine is exactly what we need.

The question isn't whether convenience is good or bad.

The question is whether it's helping us live our lives, or slowly replacing our participation in them.

And underneath all of this is something even deeper for us.

Our connection to our families.

Our connection to the earth.

Our connection to our Creator.

Maybe we weren't meant to rush through every ordinary part of life just so we could hurry up and get to the next thing.

Maybe making dinner matters.

Maybe caring for our homes matters.

Maybe sitting outside with a cup of coffee matters.

Maybe tending a garden, learning a skill, making something with our hands, sitting around the table, watching the stars and loving the people standing right in front of us aren't the things distracting us from our lives.

Maybe those things ARE our lives.

Because one day, we may look back and realize that all those little things weren't little at all.

And if you're listening to this thinking, Well, that's easy to say when you have land or a homestead, we want you to stick around.

You do not need acreage.

You don't need chickens.

You don't need a huge garden.

You don't need to pack up your family and move to the country.

You can begin exactly where you are, with what you already have.

And that's exactly where we're going next week.

Pull up a chair and join us.

And when the episode ends, the conversation doesn't have to.

Come join the Womenfolk Revival Facebook Community, where we're building a space for women to keep talking, sharing, learning and figuring out what returning to a more intentional way of living can look like in our own homes and families.

Join the Womenfolk Revival Facebook Community:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1A6cDC7sBy/

Stay rooted. Stay wild.