With each passing year, I find myself draw to nature more and more. There is something so liberating and cleansing about breathing in untainted air. About standing amongst trees and listening to the wind blow through their branches. About feeling the salty breeze on my face as I look across an endless ocean. Perhaps part of the magic is that it makes me feel small in a world that often encourages us to “go big or go home.” And with that feeling of smallness comes perspective.

When the world is running fast and so much of our time is spent trying to get the next promotion or make more money or impress people, that feeling of insignificance reminds me what is actually important. You see, we are small. We are replaceable at work, in our community, at the local bar, on our pickup sports team. But there is one place we will never be small and insignificant. At home. With our children. And it breaks my heart to see how little family is valued in today’s society.

Instead of worrying so much about the rest of the world, I’m focusing this phase of my life on my children. Because one day they will look back and my husband and I will be the example with which they create their own lives. I’ll be damned if they look back and remember a Mom who put work first or wasted their childhood scrolling on social media or put anything above them for that matter.

And while we may be tiny and meaningless in such a big, big world, we are our children’s whole world when they are little. Take them amongst the trees, to the water’s edge, up the mountains and teach them that sometimes we need to feel small to remember just how big we are.

Love, Jessica