What Traveling to France Taught Me About Living Intentionally

My brother and I

Hello all my beautiful readers! I want to start a new segment of my blog. One that allows me to tell my story, and to connect my life journey to what I teach on the website.

This week I want to describe some beautiful revelations I came to while traveling in the South of France. The memories I made there truly changed how I view living in tune with nature. I spent the last couple weeks of September visiting France for the first time. My brother moved there after marrying a beautiful French woman and I am so thankful that we are as close as we are! I am able to visit and learn about a culture that I have never learned much about before and see my family at the same time. I was surprised how in tune with the environment and their food that the people that live there are. I found it inspiring, so inspiring I needed to write this blog post on what I experienced and how it made me feel and view life here in the United States…

Connected to Food and Family

A French meal

This first, most eye opening and impactful thing I noticed was how sacred sharing meals and eating clean food is to the French. Unlike the USA where most people view food as a means to sustain ourselves, the French people seem to view food as a means to connect to one another. For them a meal is a sacred event shared by family and friends. I absolutely loved this aspect of my time there. Where usually I would eat a quick breakfast and get out the door to start my day, while I was visiting there I found myself intentionally walking to the market and choosing ingredients for that specific meal. Then together we would cook and talk and share the time. Meals were a time to connect and laugh and eat clean food prepared with intention and love. The food and meals shared were my favorite part of my trip. It is something I have made sure to bring home with me and has made meal time a sacred event!

A Wednesday market in France

Locally Grown Wonderland

One other thing that stood out to me about the food in France was how much of what we consumed was locally grown! I found it so beautiful that even though large supermarkets do exist there, many chose small farmers markets and specialty shops to purchase their ingredients instead. In fact, the markets were my favorite part of my trip! They were so vibrant and you could feel the love that each merchant put into the product they made. My favorite part of each day was walking to the local boulangerie, or bakery, and picking up the bread and deserts we needed for the day. Not only was the bread and baked goods the best I have ever had in my life, they were affordable too! I was shocked by how economical each and every food product there is. Makes you wonder why inflation has impacted the USA so intensely….

A Life without Pesticides or Unnecessary Chemicals

Gardens surrounding a village

One of the things that made the biggest impact on me and truly made me hopeful for the future was the number of villages that were completely pesticide free and boasting about it too. When you would enter these beautiful villages you were met with a sign that proclaimed that you were entering a “Pesticide free zone”. And this was common! People seem to be educated and aware of the dangers of excessive pesticide use. Not only are they aware but they are dedicated to eradicating that BS from their lives! I find this so refreshing and hope one day that towns across the USA will be boosting that same! Sights like this truly make me excited to see how the coming generations transform life as we know it. I have complete hope and faith that we will move as a society toward a more in tune way of life. All it takes is dedication from people like you and me…

How to Learn from the French Culture

We can all stand to learn something from the French way of life, even if only to share more meals with our loved ones. I truly hope that people start to realize that fast and easy is not always the answer. Sometimes slowing down and waiting makes you value what you do have even more. I see myself continuing to learn from the French people and culture and am so excited to do so! Until my next trip, catch me at the farmers market buying local produce and supporting those that do put love into what they create!