reset.

When I read the book It Starts with Food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig, over a year ago, I learned about the importance of a "reset" for our bodies.

That's what the Whole30 is all about....resetting your body back to a “whole” diet with all real, clean foods and nothing processed.

After my first two rounds of the Whole30, I gradually fell back into my old eating habits and in turn welcomed back the joint pain, constant exhaustion, and digestive issues that come with eating “Frankenfoods”, as Melissa Hartwig calls them.

About nine months ago, I read Melissa’s second book, Food Freedom Forever.

​It was with this book that I really started to understand the process of resetting, occasionally enjoying foods that are “worth” going off plan, and then quickly resetting again.

So you spend most of your time in this "reset" period of eating the foods that are very best for your body.

It was such a novel idea to me after spending years trying to "get healthy" and "lose weight" and "get in shape".

Research shows that calorie-restriction (or the complete restriction of specific foods) does not promote a sustainable lifestyle.

It makes so much more sense to live in a place of "reset" with an occasional jump off-track here and there.

And then this week, as I was trying to stay caught up with classroom planning, home responsibilities, and three little farm girls, it hit me...I should be living most of my life in a place of "reset".

I think we've been getting it wrong all these years.

Instead of mirroring that "reset" lifestyle, where we focus on the basic principles of sustenance, we overindulge in every way, every day.

And I'm not just talking about food.

I'm talking about the over-connectedness we have by being in constant communication with those around us by texting and social media accounts.

I'm talking about saying "yes" to every single request to volunteer or spend time on various projects outside of the home.

...about having so many belongings in our homes that we are slaves to them...spending every extra minute in life cleaning and maintaining them.

...about eating out three or four times a week because everyone won't be home all at the same time or early enough to eat supper at the table.

...about being so involved in every extracurricular activity offered to your family that you don't have time to just be home with those you love or to spend time with your church family.

Sidenote: Check out our minister's blog post from today...crazy timing, considering most of this post was already written!

I think the struggle is that these things I just mentioned above are THE NORM.

In the average American family, times of "reset" seem to be few and far between...only happening on a rare weekend when there is nothing else going on.

The problem with this is that we NEED more "reset" than that.

A healthy physical, mental, and spiritual life is promoted when the "reset" becomes the regular.

When we spend time sitting at home, instead of rushing from 'Point A' to 'Point B'.

When we purge unloved and unneeded items, instead of letting them control our homes where we must organize them and clean around them constantly.

When we have the freedom to say "no" to activities and even volunteer opportunities because we know that it would not put us in a healthy state of mind.

When we have time to plan a healthy weekly menu and make food (or enjoy Mr. Farmhouse making the food) for our family each night instead of taking advantage of the drive-through whenever it's available.

In order to make this work, we have to be intentional.

It will take carefully calculated decisions each and every day to find that "reset" life.

However, I'm looking forward to taking these next six months to really hone in on what are the most important parts of our life at the farmhouse and starting to weed away everything else.

I need a reset.

How about you?

❤️🏡❤️