March may have been one of my best months in this season of transition. We left Sweden at the end of August, spent seven weeks in Germany and moved to Melbourne on October 22. It has been a crazy few months, but the past 30 days were normal in the most glorious of ways. Here are some of the lessons I learned.
Making my bed in the morning. I invested some money in new bedding for our master bedroom. To say that it changed my life may be an understatement. I make my bed every morning now because it’s pretty and easy, and I enjoy it. When the house starts to fall apart – hi Lego – it has been a relief to have one spot where I can rest my eyes and know, it’s beautiful, it’s peaceful, and it took minutes to get that way.
Primary schooling in Australia is not what I expected. I visited primary schools in March in preparation for our oldest’s first year of school in January 2017. This may be the most grown up thing I have ever done, other than not maintaining my kids’ vaccination records. I went into it without knowing much about Australian early childhood education, and I learned that almost no school does group teaching, the one where the teacher stands at the front and instructs the big group of kids sitting at their desk. The schools, both private and public, had kids grouped and they did group work and each group had focus time with the teacher. After a day of school visits and questions, I have more respect for teachers than I have ever had before.
Small changes for the win. Last month I wrote about the way small changes were transforming my days, and I’m still loving this challenge and learning from it as well. Small breaks give my brain much needed rest and my soul a quick recharge. I used to think I needed half a day or a whole day to myself, but I’m learning that a 30-minute walk alone or an hour in a coffee shop alone before church starts can give me the energy boost I need.
Too many small changes don’t work. Keep it simple. My list of small changes in March was exciting and long, and truthfully I have hardly done anything on the list. I floss now more than I have in the past year. Incidentally my boys started flossing as well. I’ve gone on lots of walks in the past two weeks, and that has been great. But our walls are empty and so many other things are left undone. Going into April, I know now to keep my list to two or three small changes, and that will be much more doable and a lot more fun.
A combination of toothpaste, butter, soap and warm water removes superglue from the palms of my cheeky toddler. I learned this one last night when Husband found our almost-three-year-old wandering in the hallway (when he should have been in bed) with something strange covering his palms. It was superglue. We can only be thankful that he didn’t glue his hand to a wall. It took about 45 minutes of Husband’s hard work (I bailed after about 15 minutes). It was definitely a Send Wine moment except my full wine glass was right there on the bathroom counter while we each scrubbed a hand.
If you missed it, I wrote a few more posts on the blog in March.
I learned this month that Instagram’s algorithm may potentially change, and I learned that I care too much but can learn to not care at all. Mostly I learned that everything in the world is going to change. I can keep creating, I can keep writing, no one can stop me from doing this, and I can trust that my work will land where it needs to.
Thanks as always to those of you who subscribe (scroll down to do that), read, comment and share. I appreciate it so much. Now tell me, what did you learn in March?
9 thoughts on “what I learned in March”
My dear,
I love your bedroom, it is so beautiful!
I’ve been missing you… So happy that you’re back to blogging.
Superglue??! Thank god he didn’t glue one hand to the other…
I miss you too, Ana! Thanks for commenting. And yes.. superglue. It was kind of a funny disaster. He has been up to so many shenanigans lately!!
Hey friend! Each day in April, keep saying”this one thing I do – this one thing i do” If it worked for st. paul, it could be a wonderful release from the task list of many! HUGS to all of you. you’re a star and I miss you 🙂
Thank you, Jen. I’ll have to try that!
Hi Devi,
Love reading your posts- they are so encouraging to me personally- and so relatable!
I think I need to write a list of small changes, as I would imagine it would be such a relief/encouragement to achieve! (I tend to become overwhelmed at times with larger tasks to be completed each day)
Much love,
Jaynelle s
So glad you’re here, Jaynelle. I am definitely overwhelmed by long lists and bigger tasks, so the bite-sized things to do have been much easier to complete and stick to :).
Your bedroom looks like an image from a magazine. I love it. And your thoughts about bed making! It continues to amaze and delight me how my life and yours so frequently track together side by side. Ever since Annabelle was born in August, I have made a new habit of bed making for all the same reasons you listed. I bought a new comforter, too, which inspired the change.
So cool you are all the way over there on “the other side” and we are still connected in delightful ways. Love you!
Oh I love to hear this, Kara!! Somehow it brings me so much joy to know we are on opposite sides of the world making beds together. Love to you!
new bedding can do wonders can’t it? one of my favorite things in the world is the smell and feel of freshly laundered (and air dried in the sun when possible) sheets!