This Is Contentment In Our Ordinary Moments Right Now
When Full Doesn’t Feel Overwhelming
Something that’s been on my mind lately, since I wrote my June post discussing how full my life was yet it didn’t feel overwhelming, is the idea of contentment. My mind is full of ideas and linking them together, but contentment and how, in today’s world of never-ending streams of content, contentment gets mistaken for complacency. Mundane joys become boring. Ordinary moments are overlooked in favour of viral moments.
Choosing What Contentment Works for Our Family
This year has been mainly about noticing what is (or isn’t) working for my family and making the change to preserve what works.
In the winter of 2025, I signed the boys up for too many activities. They were home only one night during the school week (and I was not; I still had something keeping me out). Monday night, Kaiden and Eli had swimming. Tuesday, Eli had skating, and then I needed to jet across Oakville to get to Kaiden’s karate class. Wednesday the boys were home, but I was at work and riding. Thursday, Eli had gymnastics. Friday, Kaiden had skating.
I was so burnt out by the end of that season that I said, “Never again.” We hadn’t had a proper meal together; I was constantly rushing around and tired. One can only imagine how the boys felt leaving school to go directly to an activity almost every day. Even with the summer break, I still didn’t put them in anything in September (other than swimming), and Kaiden had just started house league hockey (which was one hour on Saturday and Sunday). Things slowly crept back in, with Eli finally deciding to join KidStrong, and Kaiden having his First Communion classes on Friday nights.
I realized that I wasn’t willing to compromise my sanity (and my kids) to fill their hours with activities. Andrew and I are firmly in the parenting camp of “let them be kids,” and raising them in a fairly 90s fashion: go outside and play with other kids, be bored, figure it out yourselves.
Let the kids be kids! Sometimes they need to be bored to learn how to think for themselves, use their imaginations, and be a little independent.
The Beauty Hidden in Ordinary Moments
But maybe this isn’t really a post about parenting at all. This is a post about learning to notice the ordinary moments.
Ordinary moments will look different for everyone, but think of the boring ones. The repetitive moments in daily life that can get you down, like thinking of what’s for dinner every day. Life happens in the mundane moments.
Washing the dishes with your partner, laughing about the day. Having an impromptu dance party with your kids, who are currently obsessed with MJ and learning how to moonwalk. Curling up on the sofa to watch a movie as a family.
Pay attention to the ordinary moments. They’ll slip past like sand in an hourglass, just like time. And before you know it, while you were waiting for something extraordinary, your life passed you by. My life is extraordinary because I think of it that way.
When Letting Go Becomes the Better Choice
Andrew and I were planning an “extraordinary” trip to Asia this year. It was going to be big. Probably 6-8 weeks away, hitting up Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong. We were going to do ALL THE THINGS. Disney, Ghibli Park, bullet trains, temples, museums, visit where my Dad grew up, the Great Wall, Forbidden City. But the more I researched it, talked about it, and made moves to turn it into a solid plan, the less excited Andrew became.
Not because he didn’t want to go. He was the one pushing to do it in the first place. But the more it became real, the more the realities of leaving work, the dog, the cost and the kids out of school seemed to settle in his mind. He didn’t have to say anything, but he was stressing out, which stresses me out.
So we sat down, and I told him that we didn’t have to take a big trip this year. We could be like regular people and do one country at a time, even though it might take us a little longer. Choosing to postpone this trip doesn’t feel like giving something up. Asia will be there. My kids will be older, able to go further, and remember more.
Now we’re discussing possibly going on our first adult-only trip together since we’ve had kids.
Contentment Without Complacency
At the beginning of this post, I wrote that contentment gets mistaken for complacency. While I’m sure contentment could slip into complacency if we stop growing, I think the real challenge is finding contentment without either complacency or constant striving. Complacency is choosing not to grow. Constant striving convinces us that where we are is never enough. Contentment is appreciating where you are while still being open to growth.
Growth is necessary for life; there’s satisfaction in growing, learning and challenging ourselves. But it doesn’t always mean that where we currently are in our lives isn’t enough.
Choosing the Life I’m Already Living
It often feels like social media and society tell us the grass might feel greener on the other side, or that we are falling behind if we aren’t climbing that ladder. But I’ve found that there’s a quiet satisfaction in consistently choosing to be right in the moment of your life and appreciating that.
I love that I feel like I’m inhabiting my life, not trying to chase another’s.
J x