At the end of last year, my husband and I made a commitment that we would slow down. For us, that meant less traveling and even less set plans with friends on the weekend. We just wanted to be. To enjoy marriage and let things just be. Our friends mean the world to us and we still hang out with them often, just less “scheduled” time with them.

In the few short weeks we have done this, I have learned a few things. First, I find so much joy and relaxation knowing when I wake up on a Saturday, I have absolutely nothing to do and no where to be. To sit and enjoy my coffee with this freedom in mind has allowed me to truly rest. The go, go, go that I thought was expected of me to maintain good friendships and community, serve, work hard for my family and be a good wife was absolutely draining to me. But what I have found is that I do all of these things better when I have none of them planned at all. I am able to fully focus on my husband and his needs, randomly reach out to friends and community to come over for dinner or game night, and to give 100% of my attention to whatever it is that is right in front of me.

Second, my husband is the biggest sore loser out there. Seriously. We are both very competitive and I will be the first to admit that I hate losing and get a sour attitude afterwards, but this man cannot. let. it. go. I have told him this and he denies it but it is TRUE! We played the game Cashflow this weekend and he is not the greatest with finances. He bought every opportunity that came to him but his expenses were so high we was never able to exit the “Rat Race”. I ended up winning the first game we played on Saturday night and first thing Sunday morning he says “Do you want to play Cashflow again?” Sure, Adam, let’s play again. He won that round and now he is content to start his week in peace. LOL.

Third, having less plans has allowed for more time to explore new and old hobbies. I’ve never considered myself to have traditional hobbies. I enjoy working out, but not the 3+ hour gym rat kind of way. I like business, finances and investing- the entire subject nerds me out. So I spend much of my time reading books and listening to audiobooks on the subject. Recently, I started cooking more and have really enjoyed that. I was never a bartender and am not much of a drinker but have gotten the urge recently to try different drink recipes. We have also found how much we enjoy cooking at home together. It really is fun.

Overall, our commitment this year has come along well. Yes, we spend less time with friends, but honestly, we needed it. It has brought more life to us than we expected.