What Slow Living Means to Me
Before Aaron and I got married we talked about the type of life we wanted to live and how we wanted to spend our time.
We only get so much time on this beautiful Earth, it’s important to choose wisely how it’s spent.
For a long time, I thought slow living meant gardening, homemade meals, and creating a beautiful home.
This year I’ve learned it also means waiting.
Waiting for a house.
Waiting for land to become a ranch.
Waiting for dreams to become reality.
Waiting to grow our family.
In 2024, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), now known as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). Symptoms of PMOS can look like irregular menstrual cycles, weight gain, and hyperandrogenism. PMOS unmanaged is the leading cause of infertility. With the new classification, I hope those of us that struggle with this disorder can get an understanding from doctors why PMOS occurs.
Once I received this diagnosis, I visited several doctors and specialist that ran test after test to figure out that having a baby isn’t possible for me without medical intervention.
When I first received the news I was angry. It’s difficult to process being told your body can’t do something you’ve always dreamed it would. The only thing I have ever wanted is to be a mother and while I have my two, amazing boys, I want the experience of creating life myself.
Going through the process of scheduling doctors appointments, going in for tests, procedures and follow up appointments has taught me patience and to lean on my loved ones.
This news brought up so many more questions and concerns that the doctor’s patiently answered. Once the shock wore off and we had time to process and discuss our options, Aaron and I decided to move forward with IVF in 2027.
This decision wasn’t made lightly. The logistics of planning medical procedures overseas is overwhelming. There was lots of uncertainty between appointments and the options we would receive in order to have a baby were scary to think about, especially because there’s no guarantee the IVF cycle will work.
IVF (In Virto Fertilization), is a series of procedures that increases the chance of pregnancy. With the decision of IVF came the decision of the clinic we use for treatment and after lots of research and appointments we decided on a clinic in Greece.
I have traveled to Greece in the past to explore the historical buildings and delicious restaurants but I also learned so much traveling to Europe that you don’t see in the United States. The slow living there has inspired me daily to do so here.
Integrating slow living into my daily life has taught me to choose joy even in the harder moments. I used to think slow living would begin once we moved to the ranch. Instead, I’ve learned that slow living begins when you stop postponing your life until the next milestone, so we keep going. We keep doing things we love while we wait.
Travel has brought me to beautiful hotels and incredible destinations and how other people live, but it also taught me to value the small things. It’s taught me that in the United States we live so fast paced. It’s taught me that meals should be shared with people that we love and it should be slow and memorable. Travel has taught me to live in the moment.
To some people, downsizing into a camper while we build our home might look like taking a step backward. For us, it’s one more reminder that life doesn’t begin when the house is finished. Some of our sweetest memories will probably happen while we’re living in a few hundred square feet, gathered around a picnic table with family.
Three Feathers Ranch isn’t just about pretty houses, chickens and gardens. It’s about grandparents living next door, shared meals, and stories being shared and building meaning connections with the ones we love.
Receiving the diagnosis wasn’t what changed me. Waiting did.
Waiting has taught me patience in ways I never expected. It’s taught me that you can make plans and still have to surrender them. It’s taught me that joy and grief can exist in the same moment.
I wasn’t prepared for how pregnancy announcements or baby shower invitations would make me feel. But I also wasn’t prepared for the joy I’d find celebrating the people I love while still hoping for my own turn.
Slow living isn’t about having the perfect home, growing your own food, or moving to the countryside.
It’s choosing to be fully present in the life you’ve been given today instead of waiting for tomorrow to begin.
We still dream about the ranch. We still hope for another baby. We still pray for the future we’ve imagined.
But until then, we’ll keep gathering around tables, exploring new places, loving the people around us, and building a meaningful life right where we are.
Because slow living isn’t something waiting for us on the other side of our dreams.
It’s how we choose to live while we’re waiting for them.
