Seasons
As I've been working on some of the final edits for my eBook "Nourished" I got to thinking about seasons. To explain what I mean, here's a little excerpt from the introduction of the book...a little sneaky peek for you:
“For many, it may feel like a real risk to dive into the world of home cooking. There are so many hurdles for women including fear, lack of time, and knowledge. This is why I wrote this book. I want you to have the courage to push through the risky stuff and develop your own “why” for cooking. Is it feeding your family nutritious meals? Is it passing on a tradition to your children? Is it a catalyst for building community in your neighborhood? Whatever your “why,” I hope to show you that you can confidently step into your kitchen, create something simple and delicious for your family, and you don’t have to do it perfectly for it to be worth it. I pray you finish this book with a measure of confidence and hope that wasn’t there before. ”
As I read this, a lot of things that I had been pondering the last couple of months really came to a head. The reason being that I don't feel like I'm living out a lot of the things I talk about in the book or on this blog. I talk a lot about seasonal eating, buying local, having your neighbors over for dinner, serving mamas "just because" and passing on traditions to your kids. I still believe wholeheartedly in all of these things but it just got me thinking how our lives really do go through seasons.
When I was doing the bulk of the writing for this book, I had turned a major corner in life as a mom. Reaghan had turned one and with that balance and creativity came flowing back into my life in a way that it just hadn't prior to that. Don't get me wrong, I was still able to live a normal life during her first year, but as any mom knows, it's a big adjustment, especially with your first. Turning that corner, I felt freed up to really invest in those ideals I care so much about when it comes to food.
For the last two months or so, my days have been filled with lots of sleep (during the day, not at night!) and basic survival. I have never done a pre-packaged freezer meal dinner plan (it just doesn't leave room for creativity), but I looked one up on Pinterest and stocked up at Costco. So yes, we've been eating simple freezer meals for the last month, meaning little to no cooking. Feeding my family has just been the bare minimum, we haven't had anyone come over, and I haven't been caring at all about seasonal food.
So, seasons. I have a hunch that I'm not alone in this whole thing either. As mom's of little ones, we are constantly going through the ebb and flow of the little years....from pregnancy to nursing to toddlerhood, and then repeat. So of course I'm not going to be able to live out all my ideals perfectly in every season. Luckily, in retrospect, I can see that these seasons are so short, and know my excitement will come back in time.
Basically what I'm saying is that I want you to know you're not alone. If you feel like you're too in over your head to make dinner at night let alone plan them out seasonally, or haven't had anyone over for dinner in months, that's fine! As I get closer to releasing this book I want you to know that you don't have to live it all out perfectly every day. Like I said in the excerpt above, I want to inspire you to have your own "why" for cooking, one that pushes you through to the next season. And give yourself grace while you walk through the slow seasons, and I'll try to do the same.