Can you pinpoint your defining moment? I think a lot of people have this idea of what their defining moment will look like. Or what it looked like. But I think we all have one. A moment that somehow changes the paths of our lives, permanently. This defining moment can be good, it can be bad. It can improve your life for the better, or even it could define your life for bad. But it puts it's mark on you, and you can never look back.
I know my defining moment. And I remember it clear as day. My daughter was in daycare, and I had returned to work. I had already begun to make her baby food, and I casually and excitedly informed her teacher that we were looking forward to the opening of the local farmers market in a couple of weeks. And her teacher responded: You should check out this farmers market, my husband sells what he grows there.
Doesn't sound life altering... does it? It was. This simple give and take. This simple conversation between two people permanently changed my life. I suppose it's something like, nature vs nurture. And while I believe we can be predisposed to something, I find that the people around you make a far greater impact than our society grants credit towards.
This simple act, of asking me to attend a different farmers market, altered my families path for ever. It introduced me to a much smaller market, with people who grew to know my family, who talked to me weekly. It introduced me to people who owned farms, and had not only produce, but who could get me access to bulk locally raised beef and pork. It changed where I got my eggs, and it opened me up to conversations about milk. It in other ways made me far more hyper aware of my food and my surroundings.
I am grateful for those people in my life. Who have opened my eyes to a world I was fully prepared to go down, but a road that I may not have traveled without those around me. This moment in my life, I am sure, prepared me for our family's current journey. I already have the resources at hand to fulfill my daughters dietary needs. I have a full network of people who not only support me, my family, my daughter, my diet, but believe in it. Not simply because of my expanding knowledge and because of sharing this information, but because they were already firm believers that the less processing is better us.
What's your defining moment? Are you proud of it? As long as we are still on this great earth, there is still time to have the ah ha moment, and make changes if you are not.
My moment was several months ago when I was doing laundry. I was taking it out of the machine and thinking... "I have to hang this on the line, then go and..." do blah blah blah stuff I don't remember but was very important at the time. I was stressed out thinking of all the things I needed to do, if it was going to rain, when it would get dark, how was I going to fit everything in, etc. When it occurred to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't have to put the clothes on the line. Wait, wait, wait, this was big... I don't HAVE to put them on the line! I can just put them in this dryer, right now, right here! I don't have to worry if it's going to rain tonight, or if is too late and they will stay out there overnight.
I can put them in the dryer.
What an awesome epiphany. And I had more time to get the other stuff done. And it DID rain that night.
Ephiphany was this... there is no shame in using some modern conveniences. We have them, and there is a time and a place for everything. There is no one right way every single time and to deviate from even a good plan sometimes is okay, even necessary. My allowance to go a little easier on myself made me feel so much better in the long run. And I still hang clothes on the line most of the time. But, electric bill be damned! I am no longer afraid to use the dryer when the time is right. : )