We are fully immersed in the winter season here in Minnesota, complete with dangerous windchill that discourages outside exposure longer than five minutes. Through these frigid months, I’ve been searching for beauty. Something to bring joy in this cold reality. Somewhere in this search I started thinking about the similarities between weather and people. Specifically, …
Author: theunexpectedeverafters
Just Do the Best You Can – A Bad Day in Parenting
I had one of those days where nothing was going as planned. I had already shouted at the kids more times than I could count, and the tears from both of them seemed endless and unnecessary. I literally spent 15 minutes with a mini screwdriver and a light-up car trying to fix a piece of …
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Time to Be
Entering a new year offers a ceremonial opportunity to initiate change and establish new habits. Visions of goals and new routines fill our minds and planners and many of us will enthusiastically pursue our resolutions, at least for a time. In our pursuit to make our lives more healthy and balanced, while simultaneously less stressed, …
Living My Daydreams
Growing up, I used to daydream about starting over, particularly when I found myself in conflict with friends or wading through the messy drama of the teenage years. I would read fiction books that would transport me to different places and journal about what it might look like outside of the struggles that I was …
Refocusing on Joy
There are many things that I look forward to during the Christmas season: listening to Christmas music, anticipating family gatherings, admiring beautiful decorations, and inhaling delightful scents of the season. However, I also get caught up in all the busyness, stress, expectations, and to-dos that accompany this time of year. This holiday season can produce …
Resets – Life Lesson from a Toddler
It feels as if my life is on super-speed this season. Thanksgiving came and went, but in addition to the typical holiday excitement and stress, it also brought with it a good old-fashioned North Dakota snow storm. We had barely shoveled out of that when December came crashing in with work expectations, school expectations, social …
Balance.
I have this idea that at some point in my life I will achieve perfect balance. I daydream that I will eventually find the ideal combination of time and energy for exercising, preparing tasty and healthy meals, maintaining a perpetually clean, well-decorated house, dressing in cute, affordable outfits, and, most importantly, being a supportive wife, …
Finding Quiet Time
As an introvert, I require regular alone time in order to continue functioning as a (mostly) rational person. Growing up in a family of introverts, logging the necessary quiet time was never a problem. Moving away from home as a young adult, I was still able to frequently carve out space to rejuvenate emotionally and …
Unexpected Moments of Unrestricted Joy
Sometimes I think it is easy to feel disappointed. It can seem as if one bad thing is happening after another, and even the best moments seem to not quite meet expectations. I find that there is an - expectation→ anticipation→ disappointment - loop that occasionally tries to take over, and it can often succeed …
Jessica’s Unexpected Ever Afters
It did not take me long to fall into the same trap as the majority of other social media users, I created the perfect online life. According to my Facebook, I always look good; pictures taken in ideal lighting, from the correct above-angle, while wearing cute clothes. My children are beyond perfect; they sit quietly …
the unexpected ever afters 