It’s a wintery day here in Minnesota. I’m sitting at the kitchen table with my sons who are playing with kinetic sand, hotwheels cars, and little painted peg people. We just got back from church and we’re all a little overstimulated. It’s an ordinary Sunday.
I often struggle to be content with the ordinary. The best people I know are ordinary people without any kind of online platform, remarkable careers, or significant accomplishments. I want to be just like them and yet, I’m rarely satisfied with ordinary life. I’m an overachiever, an Enneagram 1, a former PK, an eldest daughter, and an ambitious feminist working mom. Life is very full, and at the same time very ordinary.
I recently participated in Laura Tremaine’s “One Day Hour by Hour” social media challenge, in which people were encouraged to post every hour for a whole day, documenting the ordinary, mundane moments and rhythms of life. I did so on my private accounts, so you won’t be able to see anything I posted, but it got me thinking.
That Monday was an extremely ordinary day. Woke up at 7 AM, got the kids off to daycare and school, attended meetings, slogged through a to-do list, celebrated positive work news, cooked dinner, did dishes, played with my kids, watched Netflix, and then collapsed into bed. Here’s one of the photos I took, which is a very typical snapshot of our living room and life:
The toys scattered everywhere. A hat from Halloween still sitting out. Christmas candles from last season. The empty Hello Fresh box on the piano I rarely have time to play. Laundry draped on a couch.
I’m not your stereotypical Enneagram 1 when it comes to housekeeping. I wouldn’t say I like clutter and mess, but cleaning and tidying are not my #1 priority. Truthfully, that is last, after literally anything else. We even hire someone to clean once a month and it still looks like this most of the time.
I usually get to an end of an ordinary, very full, very cluttered day and wonder what the point of it all is. I wonder if my life will ever become more organized or if I’ll ever have more time for myself. I wonder if my life will have significance. I wonder if I’ll look back on these ordinary days and make meaning of the mundane. Truthfully, sometimes I feel discontent and antsy for a bigger life.
This is why I love poetry so much. It wakes me up to the beauty in the mundane. It invites me to wonder in the ordinary moments of living. This poem Future by Jacqueline Suskin captures this day-by-day, moment by moment experience of life so well. It was published in the collection The Path to Kindness edited by James Crews:
In the liturgical church year, Ordinary Time is the period between Christian seasons. It’s actually another way to say ordinal or numbered time. The period between Easter and Advent, and between Christmas and Lent is called Ordinary Time. That’s the majority of the year! Like in life, the majority of our time is just mundane, ordered days.
I’m starting this newsletter to pay attention more and to try to make meaning of the ordinary. I’m going to share what’s interesting to me, what I’m wondering about, and what I’m noticing. Some themes I’m likely to explore: friendship, parenting, faith, nature, current events, poetry, books, inspiring people, etc. I’ve had blogs before, but not for quite some time. I’m excited to try Substack out and attempt a consistent habit of writing.
It’s a creative outlet more than anything, but it’s also a bid for connection. I write to connect with others and I hope that you’ll comment or share if what I write resonates with you.
Thank you for joining me!
—NK
Hello, happy to be here. Joined from Twitter 💛
Also via Twitter and happy to be here. I enjoyed how this post slowed me down:)