Keeping up....or choosing not to.


I've had this friend, well, I don't really want to call him a friend because he's never really been nice to me.  He makes me feel inferior, discontent, and just well, yucky.

I'm guessing you have this friend, too. It likes to hang onto my back, whisper in my ear and sometimes shows up at just the worst time.

Comparison. You know him? Yeah, sorry to meet his acquaintance.


But, sadly, I have not been able to shake him lately. It seems silly, really. Because when it comes to my life, well, I really like it.

I'm thankful for my Jesus, my husband, my children, my job, my house. And the list goes on. And in reality, I wouldn't change a thing. But comparison keeps showing up and telling me what someone else has and how my measly one just doesn't foot the bill.

I was mulling this around in my head today as I was coming back from a run.  And as I walked by our landscaping (or lack thereof) I had the thought, "Boy, the Joneses don't have to worry about us competing." But then it was quickly followed by, "Who cares what the Joneses think, and really, do the Joneses even know someone is trying to compete?!"

And thus, I came to conclusion of a blog series I am starting. I don't know the whole gist of it yet, but it will consist of pictures and stories about how my life is not going to keep up with the Joneses, and how your life doesn't need to either.

It's "The Counter-Jones: permission to let go of the have-to-have life"

I don't really dislike the Joneses, I'm sure their nice people, so I'm not anti-Jones. But I am going to go in the opposite direction of them, so Counter-Jones is where it's at.

And you know what? When I told myself that there wasn't anybody out there that I needed to be like except myself, that I didn't need anything else other than what I have right now, I felt release. And relief. It surprised me. I didn't realize how much angst I was holding onto just because I thought I needed to.

Why do we do that to ourselves?!

So when I post on the Counter-Jones life, it will correlate with frugality, purging of junk, non-consumerism, and debt free living. If any of those things interest you, I invite you along.

It won't always be pretty, and there will probably be more chaos, real life pictures than pretty, staged ones. But I like to be authentic so there it is.

And just so you don't think I'm dropping my cluttering challenge of 2017. It's still there! In fact, now that school is in full swing and our Zambia trip is in the rear window (sniff.) I'm ready to tackle it again. Looking over the list I think it's feasible to get it done in this year as planned. Some of the things I could scratch out since they didn't apply to us at all so that eliminated a few weeks right there! If you are wanting to find the list I'm following click here. I'm actually going off a list from 2015 so it may look different from her website. And I found there was a bit much on there to sift through, hence, my pared down version here.


And also so you know I do NOT have my act together. Sorry if I ever came across like I did! Here is my laundry room in all it's glory earlier today....4 months after I organized it (face palm).


 Just keeping it real.


Comments

  1. smwSeptember 13, 2017 at 2:12 PM

    :) I occasionally repeat to myself,"This is not a magazine. We are living life here!"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Tell me how you live intentional. I'd love to know!

Popular posts from this blog

The jig is up

Image
OK, I've kept it a secret for 6 months, but now that it's over, I'm bragging on my man. : ) Since April, Paul has been training to run the Columbus Marathon. We were able to get a few days off of work, grandparents watched the kids, and on Saturday morning Paul and I headed down to Columbus. We headed downtown to pick up his race packet and then spent the rest of the day and night with Ben, Jaime, and Alayna . Dark and early (5 AM) Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, Paul got geared up, and we headed downtown again to find a decent parking spot. Thankfully we found a good place to park and had Paul to the starting area at 6:30 AM (an hour before start). Ben graciously came along so I didn't have to wander around Columbus on my own -thanks, Ben! It was mid-30's at the start with a slight breeze, but skies were clear and the sun came out once it rose. Ben and I saw Paul off at the start and then headed to the halfway point (got some coffee along the way) and
Read more

Madeline Nichole Suvar

Image
The newest addition to our family came into this world on February 1st. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long. She surprised us all with having black hair - Owen and Hannah were born with next to nothing for hair and even then it was real light. She impressed the doctors at the hospital by gaining back her birth weight and passing it by an ounce (a rarity, I guess). Our first day at home (today) went well. She was awake for most of the morning and through lunch and then took a nap in the afternoon. She nurses well and doesn't get upset by all the noise Owen and Hannah make. Hannah loves to come over and pat her on the head and Owen will talk to her and hold her hand. I am working on wrapping my mind around the fact that I am a mother of 3 - it makes me feel old! :) I'm healing well from my C-Section, the hardest part is forcing myself to stay put and letting Paul do things for me. He's a great nurse, cook, father, husband.... : )
Read more

Of loss and hope

Image
Thank you to those who have reached out to me, prayed for me, since my post on Sunday. I am humbled yet again by the love of Christ, and His followers. I spoke of hope. And truly I am learning more about hope as life goes on.  I understand it more than I did 10 years ago. And even now, this week, I feel I am seeing new dimensions of it that I did not know existed. I am a realist. With a small dose of optimism.  And I think that it is that sprinkling of optimism that is keeping me from swinging way over to the pessimistic side of things. Because I truly want things to work out, HOPE that things will work out.  But I keep my hand on the shift knob, because I just may have to throw things into a lower gear because well, I'm just hoping for things to work out, but kinda doubt they will. I hope that made sense to someone.  You may need to go back and read it.  I'll wait. .......... I think I live most of my life, and approach most circumstances, like that.
Read more