How We're Practicing Mindful Living (featuring Tom's of Maine!)
We NEVER thought we’d live outside of a big city. Heck, when we first started dating, we thought if we left New Orleans, then we’d end up in New York or Los Angeles—but a combination of factors including having built a real community, family ties, and work prospects made us want to stay down here in the South. It’s now been almost a year since we moved a little outside of New Orleans, to a small and comparably sleepy town called Covington, and so far we’re loving it. While a lot of our friends were like, “hey what the hell are you doing?” the truth is we made the move because we wanted to reboot for a second, catch our breath, and focus on more mindful living. By that, I mean that most of our early twenties felt like we were flailing through life without much of a plan, or direction, or appreciation for day-to-day moments that can be both mundane and beautiful…and we decided it was time to take a step back and live a more intentional life. A move to a small town sounded like a great impetus for that! Today we’re gonna share a bit about changes we’ve made, and how joining the Tom’s of Maine Goodness Circle fits right in.
So, before deciding to move to our new town about a year ago, we wrote down a list of things we knew were priorities, which is basically the best thing to do when considering making any life change. At the top of our list were being near nature and having a home we could comfortably live in and work from. We picked an apartment with a bunch of natural light that literally just looks straight out into the woods because that sounded like an appropriate spot for our little reset. It has been an absolute joy, and neither of us has ever felt so relaxed.
Our days have become slower, with built in time for tinkering with the house plants, reading, making meals, extra long walks with Fox, and just enjoying the moments as they happen. We’ve both started getting a lot more serious about fitness, and are officially AnnoyingCrossFitPeople who don’t feel right if we miss a day at the gym.
We’ve had to become much more intentional about setting aside time to see friends, as pretty much everyone we know lives an hour away. I know it may sound weird and harsh, but having to plan to see friends a day, or two, or even longer in advance has actually been really revealing for us in terms of how and with whom we want to spend our time—making even our social lives more purposeful and intentional.
We’ve taken the same attitude of mindfulness to pretty much all the products we’re buying, by being more considerate of company values, environmental impact, and trying to limit the number of toxins in our homes and bodies. To aid with that, we’re joining the Tom’s of Maine Goodness Circle, their little family of blogger friends who get to try out all the products and report on them! We’re excited about it, because they’ve got like actually super impressive company values towards sustainable packaging, natural ingredients, and community involvement. There’s no animal testing, and none of it feels weird and super chemical, because it’s not.
The first thing we switched out was our toothpaste. Tom’s of Maine released their Sea Salt toothpaste this year, and OK our honest first reaction was, “that’s not a toothpaste flavor.” BUT, it’s sea salt and peppermint, and has a wonderful slightly sweet flavor that leaves our mouths feeling so so fresh. Even though they’re not using anything artificial, it still does all the things we expect a toothpaste to do, like strengthen enamel and fight cavities.
We also started using the Sea Salt mouthwash, which is nice and mild while still feeling all kinds of fresh. I usually dread mouth wash, which I know sounds dramatic…but I really hate that whole mouth-on-fire feeling! Like, if I’m sleepy and about to get in bed I really don’t want to feel like I’m putting lava in my mouth. This mouth wash is super mild and alcohol-free and feels absolutely lovely.
Anyhow, that’s a look into our lives lately! We’re hoping to keep the lessons we’ve learned about mindful living with us even after we, someday, move out of our country town and make a home in a city again. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
xoxox Beau & Matt
Products and compensation were provided to us by Tom’s of Maine, but as always opinions are our own.