I met Shauna at Hopespoken last year and we we’re kindred spirits right away.  She is so life giving and a total breath of fresh air!  She has her own clothing business called Poor Pitiful Pearl which is completely darling, but I love her for much more than that.  She offers an interesting and unique perspective on life that will make you wanna load up in her airstream and spend the summer on her high!  She’s a true California girl living life on a Texas farm with her husband and three babes.  A creative to be envied, and a mother to take notes from… get your right brain ready and prepare your heart to melt.  Meet my friend Shauna!

 

1. Why is it important to you to be “living for the most?”

I think if we are honest, most of us can say that we have at one time in our lives, if not often, found ourselves feeling like a hamster on the wheel of life. Especially as parents, just the basic needs of cooking, cleaning, schooling, driving, working, paying bills etc can completely fill up ones day. A few years ago, I cut the cord on designing custom pieces for customers. At the time this was a huge risk. My business was built on custom work resulting in over 50% of my income and my regular clientele was loyal and consistent but also set in their ways of doing business with me. The business that I built to bring freedom began to feel like shackles as my sleepless nights proved I just couldn’t keep up with the demands. For a while, I tried to just keep swimming. I felt breathless as though every day was a new wave that would take me down before I could come up and catch air. After several health scares and a miscarriage , I had my come to Jesus moment. He sat me down like he does and gently convicted me to make the much needed changes and push through the fear and trust him. I was ready, still not knowing what that meant. I gave it to him. I wrote the blog, no more customs… and then I was done. Just like that. Ironically, my business didn’t dissolve or even slightly suffer. Instead I felt immediate peace. This was a huge faith lesson for me, because I realized it really had less to do with my workload and more about truly trusting him and giving him the things I hold so tightly too out of fear. To me, living for the most, means saying YES to the BEST thing, HIM. Sometimes in my life that means saying no to perfectly good things. Sometimes it means doing things that the world resents or doesn’t understand. Ultimately, aligning my life to HIS purposes, because I’ve done it “MY WAY” and experience has proven that there is no greater place to be than the center of his will.

 

2. How are you accomplishing this right where you are? 

Because I know life naturally leans toward busy, I have to be intentional with my time. I pray about commitments, and I’m learning to go without certain luxuries for sanity’s sake. I’ve let go of feeling the need to please others, but instead I perform for an audience of one. GOD. Or at least I should say thats my aim. Of course I am human, and I fall short. A perfectly balanced life is not possible, but every day is a new challenge to get it right. Even with our homeschool, I never thought for example it would be possible to make time to observe a bird in nature and then spend hours sketching it and or reading about it, or find the time to set aside academic workbooks to teach my kids how to sew. When they say “ stop and smell the roses”, its not a suggestion. I think its a way of living that has been so life giving for my family. Being in nature, reading good books, teaching my children valuable life skills is not extra curricular, it is the basis of what we do now. We find time to live well.

 

3. What is a good idea, tool, or resource that’s helping you in either family life, home, or womanhood?

Right Now, I am loving Wild and Free Podcasts. { bewildandfree.org }
Being a homeschooling Mom, I have few friends who have chosen this path. I also live on acreage in a small country town, where getting together with my friends in the city is an hour drive. While I love my country life, it can be isolating if I am not intentional about community. Hearing the encouragement and support of other Moms in similar seasons of life is very uplifting and inspiring.

 

4. What is a favorite book or quote that has offered you knowledge or inspiration?

Right now my go to verse is:
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14

 

5. What advice would you give your younger self? 

I would tell myself to live with less. Keep things simple. So many times because of ambitions, creativity and dream chasing, did I unnecessarily complicate my life. Without realizing, I would say YES to everything that excited me, afraid of missing out, and many of those things robbed me of greater things. Approaching 40, I have new revelations that some times success looks like downsizing, seeking those sweet margins that create peace and a pause.. because otherwise you miss the most important things by being busy with the time sucking things that wont matter in the long run. Its okay to stop and breathe. Life is short. Live well.

 

A huge thank you to Shauna for taking the time for this series and for giving us some insight from her personal life that we can take with us to inspire our own journeys.  You can find her on instagram @hurshfamily.  

Live for the Most, 

KC