The Cookie-cutter Society

Are you doing what you're supposed to be doing? Focus in school so you can go to college and get a degree. Find a job in your field and achieve your way to your first promotion. When you're not focused on work, go on first dates until you find the one. Marry them. Buy the white picket fence house. Have babies.

That's the dream, right?

Well, maybe. What happens when you change your mind about your career path? Or when you want a little more time to pursue your hobbies? Or when you don't like living in the suburbs? What happens when you glimpse a vision of something a little different that you think could feel a lot better?

You make a decision. Intentionally or unintentionally, you decide whether you'll explore that other vision or carry on down the path society already defined. And you already know the easier path.

Living and mothering intentionally require effort, especially for busy moms that can so easily get stuck in the rut of everyday life that it seems impossible to carve a new or different path. But it's critical for busy moms to live and mother intentionally to build easy contentment in the day to day.

Intentional Living as a Path to Contentment

Intentional living is the path out of the cookie-cutter life and into one defined by you. It doesn't mean bucking every piece of the American dream and living an alternative lifestyle.

Intentional living means clearly understanding your values and ensuring the life you lead reflects them. It's leaning into what's right for you, regardless of whether it aligns with society's standards.

The concept is simple, but not always easy, especially when making subtle shifts into your values means rewriting habits, editing your family routines, and making changes that don't make sense to the people closest to you.

But living in alignment with your values is the only path to contentment.

Journaling Exercise

Ask yourself:

• What are your values? This one might take some time, but it's something you can journal and think on over the course of a few days or weeks until you find a handful that feel like they represent you at your core.

• Which parts of your life are out of alignment with your identified values? Think through your day to day as well as how you tend to spend your time over the course of a year. Connect those activities to your values, or note where they don't align.

• Identify a change you can start making today to step into greater alignment with your values. Remember, it doesn't have to be radical; it can be a simple shift that pushes you just one step closer to living your values each day. That's intentional living.

Defining Intentional Motherhood for Busy Moms

Intentional motherhood is a reflection of intentional living. It's identifying what matters most in your motherhood journey and making choices that align with those priorities for your relationship with your children. And intentional motherhood is particularly important for busy moms, when the chaos of every day can so easily sweep you away from your values-driven path.

Motherhood in particular is almost easier to steer to your own personal values because societal norms are arguably less defined. No matter the decisions you make in motherhood, you'll find someone cheerleading that choice and someone shaming it.

Quit work and you're not providing for your kids, but stay and you're handing the responsibility of raising them to someone else. Breastfeed or formula feed. Buy new clothes or accept hand-me-downs. Co-sleep or sleep train. The list goes on and on (I bet you can name a few!) and there are proponents and antagonists galore on every side.

Knowing there will always be someone for you and someone against you in your mothering choices makes mothering intentionally particularly freeing. You do you.

For busy moms, intentional motherhood is your decision to raise your family in the way that works for you, and it builds an ease into your every day, even when life remains full and sometimes a little chaotic.

In my world, you'll find a push toward living slower and more seasonally, mothering slower and more seasonally, and doing it all even while providing financially for my family. I am without a doubt a busy mom, and our lives are full to the brim, but making intentional motherhood decisions about approaching each day with a slow living mindset helps ease the busyness and ensure we prioritize what really matters. What about your family?

Journaling Exercise

Ask yourself:

• What are your priorities when it comes to mothering? What matters most to you and your children when you examine your relationship with them? Think big picture for these questions.

• Which parts of your day are exemplary of these priorities? Get more specific here. Consider what you are doing and what your children are doing when you feel most aligned with the priorities you identified. Note if moments or routines in your day are consistently out of alignment with those priorities.

• Choose one moment, activity, or shift in your daily rhythm where you can lean more intentionally into your mothering priorities. Write it down and commit to doing it tomorrow.

More Ways for Busy Moms to Mother Intentionally, Slowly, and Seasonally

• The online yoga studio for busy, working moms seeking a slower way of life offers monthly pre-recorded yoga and meditation you can use to sink into a slower pace, plus a slow down framework where you can restructure your most overwhelming challenges into peaceful, rhythmic routines that support you and your family.

• Two-minute Reset Meditations for Routine Calm Days includes ten completely free two-minute meditations for you to capture a moment of calm right now, without spending an hour at the yoga studio or taking paid leave.

• The Mama Naturalist on my website and Substack is a space where I share both conceptual and practical guidance on slowing down, connecting to nature, and living seasonally.

• Mindful Moms Digest offers exclusive yoga and meditation classes, nature stories from a wildlife biologist (me!), and free, supportive resources including links back to every blog post for busy, working moms journeying toward a slower, more seasonal way of life.

• Cultivate Calm Mornings is a structured series of three yoga workshops that supports you in transforming your morning routine from chaotic to calm.