Present Over Perfect

Published on June 30, 2018.

This week I read Shauna Niequist’s book “Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living”. It was an interesting reading with short chapters that were full of reflections about priorities that we have in our life.

Small part of the book touch Shauna’s behaviour related with travels, accept every invitation to travel and speak, which was similar to mine at the begin of this year. In the following calendar, the tomato days are the ones where I was travelling (20 of 35 days).

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
28 May	29 May	30 May	31 May	01 June	02 June	03 June
04 June	05 June	06 June	07 June	08 June	09 June	10 June
11 June	12 June	13 June	14 June	15 June	16 June	17 June
18 June	19 June	20 June	21 June	22 June	23 June	24 June
25 June	26 June	27 June	28 June	29 June	30 June	01 July

Shauna wrote in the book

Just because you have the capacity to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it. Management, organization, speaking and travelling: you must ask not only what fruit they bring to the world, but what fruit they yield on the inside of your life and your heart.

I really had a fantastic time in all the travels but they also made me tired. She also wrote

Aaron and I aren’t homebodies at all, not routine people even a little. We love to travel, love the changes of scenery and adventure. But our boys are teaching us about home, about patterns, about the most meaningful ways to spend our time.

And I need to agree with Shauna that there are more meaningful ways to spend our time than in a plane or in a train or in car or surfing on Facebook.

Photo of home cooked risotto — Home cooked risotto with courgette and sun dry tomatoes. Photo by Raniere Silva.