Welcome to What We Learned, a monthly community link up where we each take some time to reflect on the last 30-ish days before moving ahead into the next.
Find a new favorite show? A cool function on your phone you didn’t know about? Learn something about your own personality you didn’t realize before? No lesson is too small to share in this space, as you will quickly see when you read my list. Here are six things I learned in September:
1. I’ve been saying “magnet” wrong all my life.
That’s right. I’m 38 years old and just realized it’s not “mag-nent” but “mag-net.” What? I know. This summer my sister realized a grapefruit is not a “greatfruit.” I mean it is a great fruit. But that’s not, in fact, its name. I wonder what other words I say wrong but don’t know yet?
2. In September, I learned I might need glasses.
It happened overnight. One day I could see and the next day I’m holding books and my phone at arms length from my face. I haven’t gone so far as actually getting the eyes checked. But I can feel it coming.
3. Knowing what’s for dinner makes the day better.
I’ve been trying out HelloFresh, a food service that delivers pre-measured ingredients and recipes to your door each week. I chose the three meal plan for four people (which is plenty of food for our family of five) and have loved making those meals at the end of the day.
The ingredients are ready to be chopped, mixed, and cooked and all I have to do is read the recipe. If you’re interested to try it out, you can use this code for $40 off your first order. Here’s the code: W4G3G2
4. Doing these four things also makes the day better.
This past week I started feeling listless and just a little off. I had work to do, but couldn’t seem to pick what to tackle first and wasted time starting and stopping different things. I decided to make it simple, and wrote down these four words in my bullet journal:
- Read
- Write
- Share
- Listen
RWSL if you will. I realized as long as do these four things during my workday, I’ll be in a pretty good place. That particular day, reading Never Broken by Jewel during my lunch and listening to Ryan Adams version of 1989 while I worked helped me feel like a human.
Some days I will listen to a podcast, others I’ll read a chapter from a book on writing. And like it or not, marketing is part of my job. But I can make it too hard, so calling it “share” helps my soul translate it better. Choosing one way to do that per day helps it feel accessible and fun.
5. I love driving my girls to school.
You guys! Why didn’t anyone tell me how great this is? For all the years my kids have been in school, they have gone to our public neighborhood school a block away. We would either walk or drive over quickly, but from the time I left my house until the time I got home with them was rarely more than 15 minutes.
Now that my girls are in middle school, it takes about 15 minutes to drive to school. And in the afternoon, I have to leave my house 45 minutes before school lets out so I can get a good place in the line. That means over an hour in my car in the afternoon. And I surprisingly love it.
It is a built-in transition from work day to afternoon with kids and family. I listen to an audio book on the way and either read or do some planning from the car while I wait. Once the girls get in the car, I get to hear all the first-word school news. While I truly miss walking the girls to school, I’ve been surprised to realize how quickly this new routine has become a favorite time of the day.
6. Chatting at the Sky readers (you!) will never let me down when it comes to book recommendations.
On Monday I shared how I pretty much stick to four main genres in choosing books but that I would like to break out of that. You all shared (and are still sharing) with me some of your favorites outside of my main genres and I cannot wait to sit down and make my to-be-read list.
If you are looking for your next read, check out the comments on that post. Gold, I tell you.
If you would like to share you own list of what you’ve learned, write a post and link it up below, or just share in the comments! The link up will remain open for new links until October 6. Don’t want to miss a post from Chatting at the Sky? Sign up here to have them delivered into your inbox.
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