You Have More Time Than You Think

This post may include affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live back in pioneer days? You know, 200-ish years ago when people were crossing snowy plains on foot with crappy leather moccasins for shoes? Hauling all their earthly belongings in handcarts? And giving birth on the trail?

Sounds awful, if you ask me.

Think for a second about just how dramatically life has changed for a typical Western family in the past 200 years. It’s mind-boggling just how much easier life has gotten for us.

Instead of crossing the plains on foot, we have air travel. Instead of washing our clothes in the ice-cold creek, we have washing machines. Instead of dealing with all our womanly hygiene issues in a variety of (very UNhygienic) ways, we have toilets and tampons, running water and foaming hand soap.

It’s hard for me to even wrap my head around how dramatically life has changed.

But there’s one area of life where technology has benefitted us more than any other. Can you guess what it is?

TIME.

We have oodles and oodles of time now, especially as stay-at-home moms.

If we’re feeling cold, we don’t have to gather wood and build a fire, we just turn up the thermostat. Need to make dinner? No need to butcher the cow, collect the eggs or grind wheat for bread, just swing by the grocery store in your climate controlled, gas-powered vehicle. Or, better yet, have all the groceries DELIVERED TO YOUR HOUSE.

It really doesn’t get any better than that.

But let’s back up a bit. I’m guessing that when you read that line about us having “oodles and oodles” of time, you might have rankled a bit. Maybe even felt a little defensive about how justified you are in having a super busy schedule.

I get it. We modern women like to wear our busyness like a badge of honor. It makes us feel useful and like our lives matter. But the fact of the matter is, most of it is self-imposed, even if for good reasons.

We drive the soccer carpool because we want our kid to have an experience with a team sport. We’re busy with PTA meetings because we want to be involved with our kids’ school.

But it’s all by choice. Unless you work 40+ hours a week because your family needs your income to put dinner on the table (if so, you rock, mama!), then you probably have more free time on your hands than any previous generation.

So what are we doing with it?

Are we filling our days with more social time and entertainment? Or maybe getting lost on Instagram for 30 minutes more than we meant to?

I’m absolutely NOT a proponent of never taking time for rest or relaxation. But if you’re feeling like life might have something more for you, perhaps it does.

Maybe it’s time to look past the everyday busyness you’ve kept going for years (because everyone else was) and ask yourself if it’s time to step into the next phase of making an impact on the world.

I know it sounds scary; change always does. But I promise it’s worth it.

And if you’re wondering if starting a business is your next step, enter your email below and I’ll send you a short quiz I created for moms just like you!