OUR STORY

Rewind to 2010. I was newly married, we had just bought our first house and we were creating a home with all the things; fancy glasses, throw pillows, all the things you wouldn’t dare have set out with toddlers. I was also preparing to be a mother. Painting and decorating a nursery and accumulating all the things babies needed. 

At the same time my mom was sick. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I was in denial that I just might lose her. I savoured moments with her while preparing to be a mother. But no amount of denial could change things. She got really sick really fast and in December 2010, I said goodbye to my Mom. Completely unprepared. And absolutely devastated. 

I became a mom just two months after losing my own mom. The woman I had planned to learn from, to lean on for support and to encourage me when I was down. Without her, I was lost. It was the rockiest time of my life. I was joyfully embracing the role of mother to a beautiful baby girl, while stuffing away a grief I didn’t have the tools to process. It was through that time that I began hanging on to everything I could to keep my mom with me. Every trip home, I would collect clothing, decor, shoes, stuff. I was convinced that if I had more of her stuff, I would heal the pain. 

At the same time, our family was growing and the stuff was accumulating. Three kids later we were drowning in our 1100-squarefoot home. 

That Christmas, in 2015, my husband gifted me Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It was exactly what I needed. It gave me the first tools to start letting go of things. I began telling my kids stories of my Mom. Creating homes for things, selling stuff, donating bags and boxes of more– clearing space for life again. I started with clothes, and books, then moved onto my kid’s toys. I learned to let go without guilt and I started consciously being aware of what we were bringing into our home. Our space was feeling lighter. 

In 2018 I began simplifying not just our home but our life. Our fourth baby was born in March and while on maternity leave I began thinking of ways to stay home while earning an income. With a growing family, I desired more freedom and flexibility to be home with my kids. The days and weeks were flying by and I didn’t want to miss them. I was doing marketing and fundraising part time for a local non-profit but the rush of getting to work and managing home and kids felt like too much. 

That fall I started freelancing and began working in the early morning hours before my kids were up. I enjoyed walking my kids to school and picking them up after school. I was excited to be building a business that I could create and grow on my own terms. Life felt comfortable. 

Our house was big enough, we had simplified, and decluttered our stuff and our days were filled with family time, good friends and community. 

Then in the spring of 2019,  we were given the opportunity to inherit my family home. We fell for the allure of more and different. Something bigger.  And within just 30 short days, we decided to sell our home, transfer my husband’s job and move our family-of-six two hours away. We said goodbye to friends, family and comfort. We left our cozy 1100-square foot home in the city to a spacious 2400-square-foot home, with 21 acres, large gardens and flower beds, and a swimming pool. No doubt more! There was more space to play, to entertain, to clean, to manage.  It all felt weirdly uncomfortable and exhilarating at the same time. 

But soon the rush of it all left me feeling more often overwhelmed and heavy than joyful and content. The weight of emotions, the memories, and the stuff that had been left behind and the work we had to do was way too much.  

This home was still overflowing.

Too Much Grief.

Too Much Decor.

Too Much Cleaning.

Too Much Mess.

Too Much Sorting.

Too Much Organizing.

Too Many Decisions.

The weight of these things made it hard to settle here. They had exhausted my limited energy to the point that I couldn’t be present. I was constantly rearranging stuff, and organizing another closet for a quick feeling of calm and peace, only to turn the next corner and see more. I was short and impatient with my kids. I found simple things overwhelming. My anxiety bubbled in me each day.  I had lost my sense of comfort and peace, and I no longer felt ease and joy. 

Then came 2020. We were all lonely and isolated in a new community, away from close friends and family, struggling with adjusting to a new school, new rhythm, and the overwhelming task of making a house a home. We took a family vacation to Hawaii, and it felt re-energizing and renewing. We were ready to grow into our new life. And then the world shut down.

The weight of the pandemic, homeschooling kids and spending so much time in this space became way too much. My old ways of wanting to hide and run from it all just kept coming back. What on the outside felt like a fairy tale was a daily struggle—we were all tired, emotional, and overwhelmed.

Were we crazy to move here? Is it just too much? Can we make this work? If I paint this room, I will feel better, right!? What if we just go buy a few things, will it then it will feel like ours? Our @bigcountrylife Instagram became a highlight reel of the moments I craved but wasn’t fully feeling.

Something had to shift for me; I realized it wasn’t just the physical stuff and family life I had to declutter. I needed to recognize what I had been holding onto for so long. I had to confront my emotional pain, my anger, anxiety, and fear and turn inward to find myself. I needed to simplify not physical time and space but the other things draining my energy. We started shifting and growing again. We renewed our focus on our desire to live simply and intentionally, and to make a big impact on the people and places around us.

I came to believe that the overwhelm would only stop by slowing down living—I needed to stop doing and start being. I dug in and committed to living BIG with LESS, letting go of things that didn’t serve us, saying no to things that no longer aligned with our family values, and saying yes to less. I wanted to use the regained energy to BE and shift to the intentional living we sought. I was determined to start simplifying everything.

Less Noise.

Less Stress.

Less Anger.

Less Waste.

Less Busy.

Less Resentment.

Less Planning.

Less Doing.

And the more we let go— the bigger our world has became. Less has indeed given way to more. 

More Time.

More Energy.

More Freedom.

More Awareness.

More Intention.

More Patience

More Peace.

More Being.

The move to the country has been a literal coming home for me–not just coming home to the physical space but a coming home to myself. Through the process of simplifying, I have regained my energy and my purpose. I choose to be intentional with my time and energy and move through my days with ease and joy. The physical spaces that used to overwhelm me take less from me.  I have finally let go of some grief and can see that my Mom’s legacy for me was not the stuff she left behind but what she left within me. The time, energy and purpose I have rediscovered is allowing us to create so much MORE.

We are truly learning to LIVE BIG WITH LESS. Simplifying has given me the control and order desperately needed amidst the busyness of raising 5 littles, but it has also taught me to let go.   

Here at Our Big Country Life, I share our strategies for living simpler, less cluttered lives and our practical approach to minimal-ish living as a big family. 

What works for our big family may not work for you, but I encourage you to take what works for you and hope it inspires you to find your own version of living a simpler, more abundant life.

Living big with less,

Morgan

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