Interview with ExpatWomen.com
Recently I was interviewed by the website expatwomen.com, a source for women all over the world living and dreaming of living as expats.Following is an excerpt describing how we as a family manage the busyness of life in the US.
Expat Women: What was it like reentering the busy American lifestyle, three years after you had left the U.S. for France?
Our lives are much more hectic here in the U.S., but we manage the busyness in the following ways:
1. We make only one plan for the entire weekend. One social event with a schedule and one activity for our daughter on Saturday mornings. Sundays are free, spontaneous and a slow day in which we are together doing whatever we feel like doing. Taking control and saying no to certain activities and invitations is often hard, but it is how we keep our pace of life sane;
2. We continue to cook at home and invite people for dinner about once a month. This brings us pleasure, reminds us of France, and our friends love it as well;
3. We are out in nature as much as possible (especially on weekends) and amidst the busyness, try to focus on the simpler things in life;
4. Our house is much cleaner and void of “stuff” now. It is “simpler living” even though the house has not changed; and
5. We continue to read as a family and still do not own a TV – we use the Internet instead (Netflix and Hulu) as a controlled substance. Not being constantly bombarded by the outside world keeps things simpler as well.
Tell us your ideas on how you manage the busyness of life.
1. We make only one plan for the entire weekend. One social event with a schedule and one activity for our daughter on Saturday mornings. Sundays are free, spontaneous and a slow day in which we are together doing whatever we feel like doing. Taking control and saying no to certain activities and invitations is often hard, but it is how we keep our pace of life sane;
2. We continue to cook at home and invite people for dinner about once a month. This brings us pleasure, reminds us of France, and our friends love it as well;
3. We are out in nature as much as possible (especially on weekends) and amidst the busyness, try to focus on the simpler things in life;
4. Our house is much cleaner and void of “stuff” now. It is “simpler living” even though the house has not changed; and
5. We continue to read as a family and still do not own a TV – we use the Internet instead (Netflix and Hulu) as a controlled substance. Not being constantly bombarded by the outside world keeps things simpler as well.
Tell us your ideas on how you manage the busyness of life.