Too Many Choices

OK people.

As if Birdie Boot Camp isn't enough to keep me busy and teetering on the edge of craziness, I'm about to add yet another project to the mix.

I mentioned a month or so ago that I read a book called 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.

The book just came out in January so odds are good you may not be familiar with it yet.

So here's the book trailer for those of you who prefer seeing what a book is about.  Of course, that leads me to wonder if you'll actually read a book if you can't even read the description of what it's about but I'll leave that up to you....

7 Book Trailer

If you'd like to read about the book in Jen's own words, click here to check it out.

Now, in my words, here's what I got out of the book in one simple sentence:

Lots of times, we complicate our own lives because we have too many choices.

I think most of us would agree that we all have a bunch of stuff.

And perusing the shelves of a bookstore pretty much confirms what we already know.  We can find tons of books about simplifying.  Scaling back.  Downsizing.  Dumping the clutter.  Organizing.

But this is where 7 differs in it's approach.  The author, Jen, doesn't suggest that we get rid of all of our stuff and become minimalists.  And she doesn't teach us nifty ways to organize all our things.

Rather, 7 was an experiment.  Jen simply eliminated some of the choices she faced every day to see if it made her life simpler.

So, in Amazon's words, here's what she did:

7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence.

Sounds radical, right?

But here's what I love about the book - It doesn't have to be that radical.  Jen is not telling us to take this experiment and do it exactly like she did.  It's not meant to be a template.  

It's meant to get your wheels turning.  To help you identify some areas where you might just have too many stinkin' choices.  Then you can make your life easier by eliminating some of those choices.

Let me give you an example: 

I currently have enough recipes in my possession that I'm pretty confident I can't cook all of them before I die.  I have that many.  Yet I find myself still perusing online and looking at cookbooks.  And then when I sit down to make a weekly menu and grocery list, it becomes a headache.  See, my palate would like to try new things.  But my life right now doesn't allow me much time or money to plan these elaborate, new, exciting menus.

I need to eliminate some choices in the area of food.  Now, I'm not going to eat only seven foods for one month like Jen did.  But I can create a menu for a month of meals:  choose my favorite recipes and put them in a weekly rotation.  Each month, the rotation starts again.  I can even have a make-ahead grocery list for each week of the rotation.  

And then I can be done.

Removing all the endless choices of recipes will save me time and make my life easier.  

Think how difficult it can be to make a simple decision sometimes.  If we didn't have so many choices, it wouldn't be so hard to choose.

And that's pretty much what I got out of 7.  

While it can be wonderful to live in the time that we do, with all the choices that we have, sometimes, all those choices can complicate things.  Muddy the waters.  Make our lives harder, instead of easier.

So the project I'm embarking on is to take a look around at my life, my home, my calendar.  To look for the areas of my life where the abundance of choices is not actually helping me, but stressing me out.

And them I'm going to eliminate some of that abundance of choice.

And I'm not going to replace it with more choices.

I'm just going to let it be.

And breathe.

A Different Kind of 365 Photo Project

I often think I don't take enough pictures of my kids.  Thank goodness for the iPhone or really, I don't know if I would ever take photos.  I honestly can't remember the last time I picked up a "real" camera.

But when I saw this come across Twitter, I was intrigued.

I think all of us have seen many different kinds of 365/52 photo projects, especially in the last few years.

However, this 365 project is just a little bit different.

Meet Maya and her personal project - Autism and My Daily Life.  Here's a brief description in her own words:

And as my crazy busy season wrapped up in my photography business, I began to settle upon the idea of a photojournalism project, the goal of which will be to paint a photographic picture of what autism actually looks like.  My main goal is to somehow portray how autism plays out in the banalities of family life, and not to create a Photoshopped, dramatic portrait of heroic individuals who have somehow overcome autism, or who have managed to turn their savant skill into something that made them rich, fabulous, or at least into an HBO movie.


So I am opening up my otherwise perfected photography blog to begin documenting the everyday lives of families living with autism.  And to kick it off, let’s start....  


Click here to visit Maya's blog, Maya's Eye Photography, and see the beginnings of her unique and deeply personal photo project.  


If you're anything like me, you'll be inspired by the pictures not because of how lovely they are, but because of the story they tell.  Which is exactly what I want out of my pictures.

What an awesome way to capture our special kiddos - not made-up or retouched or aiming for perfection.  Just a real look at the way it is. 

And that's a beautiful thing.

Love Sweet Love

It's Valentines Day.

So let's talk about love.

I don't know about you, but I love those silly little quizzes that you come across in magazines or online that reveal something about your personality.

Well, a few years ago, I read a book called The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman.  In the book, there was one of those fun little quizzes.  But this one was more than just fun.  I discovered my "love language", or the way that I prefer for someone to show they love me.

Mine was really no great surprise to me.  I'm an "acts of service" girl.  Nothing says love to me more than Ryan running the vacuum, filling my car up with gas, or unloading and loading the dishwasher.  Forget the flowers and chocolates.  Swish the toilet and I swoon.

The fun part came when I had my husband and kids do the quiz.  When I learned their love languages, I was able to show just how much I love each of them in ways that were meaningful and unique to them. This is knowledge I still use today.

If you aren't familiar with The Five Love Languages, click here to take the online quiz.  There's a quiz for husbands, wives, children, teens, and singles.

Take a few minutes and learn something new about your family.  Then use what you learn to love them just the way they like best.

The Silver Lining

IEP meetings.  Endless conversations with health insurance providers.  Constant paperwork.  Special diets. Therapy expenses.  Finding a babysitter.  Night after night of interrupted sleep.  Budgets stretched to the limit.  Holidays.  Birthdays.  Travel - or lack of.  Dispensing medication.  Doctor appointments.

Have I got your stress level up yet?

Well, have I got some good news for you today!

It turns out, if you have challenges in your life, you're tougher than the average Joe.

If you've experienced a traumatic event such as a divorce or loss of a job or death of a family member or if you live with chronic illness, just to name a few, these kinds of life events, while still incredibly hard, can actually benefit you in the long run.

Mark D. Seery, Ph.D, a psychology professor at the University of Buffalo, studied the effects of these types of hardships on individuals.

Dr. Seery notes:

 “Experiencing some adversity may create a sense of mastery over past adversity, teach coping skills, establish effective social-support networks, and promote cell growth in brain areas relevant for coping,” he says. 

It’s similar to the way you get stronger after a workout, Seery says. “Just as the body requires exertion to improve fitness, there is no opportunity for toughness to develop if someone has never coped with stress; likewise, physical overexertion can be harmful, and too much stress disrupts toughening,” he says.

It turns out that old saying, "What doesn't kill you, makes your stronger", is actually true.

So take heart.

When you're in the middle of a difficult situation, remember that your body and your mind are changing, becoming more resilient in an effort to protect you and make you even stronger for the future.

That's a pretty good silver lining, if you ask me.

Click here if you'd like to read more about this study.

Man's Best Friend

We've all heard of service dogs.

But there's a lot of news going around lately about using therapy dogs for children with autism.

My local news ran a segment on the Austin Dog Alliance last night that was really interesting.  Click here to watch it.

While I am certainly not ready to take on the challenge of raising a dog alongside Lily, I'd be interested in going to classes like the one in the video.  I'd also love to set up a few times for the dogs to come visit at Lily's school.

Some questions for you:

Do any of you attend classes like these?
Do you have a specially trained therapy dog?

If so, please share your experience with me!  I'd love to hear more about it.

Have a great weekend!

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-a-Dee-Ay

My, oh my, what a wonderful day!

Plenty of sunshine, headin' my way,

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Zip-a-dee-ay! 

Today is going to be a good day.

Want to know how I know that?

Because today is the second Thursday of the month.

And on the second Thursday of every month, my Moms of Special Needs Kids group (MOSK) meets.

Since I was invited to join this group by a sweet friend almost a year ago now, I have not missed but one meeting.  And that's only because we were in California for our very first appointment with Dr. Goldberg.

There is just something so incredibly amazing about spending a couple of hours with a group of people who just "get it".  People who know where you're coming from.  People who aren't shocked when you share your deepest, darkest worries and fears.  People who celebrate all the little (and not so little!) victories with you that so many others take for granted.

These ladies are my people.  My tribe.  My friends.  My heroes.

And when I spend time with these lovely women, my soul is soothed. 

I am one very blessed lady.  

I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by such a supportive community of friends.  Some I see in my "real life".  And some, I see through a computer screen.  Some, I can reach out and hug their kiddos.  And others, I see their precious children through pictures.

For those who I see often and for those who I may never meet, I'm so grateful to know that you are here, sharing this journey with me.

Yes.

Today is a good day.