A Return to Everyday Island Living
A Return to Everyday Island Living
by Jodi H . Grubbs
I was born and raised on Bonaire , a small Dutch island in the Netherlands Antilles , which is part of the southern Caribbean . My father worked in finance for Trans World Radio , a global Christian media organization .
What I did not know when I left the island at age sixteen was that I would wrestle with these two cultures many times over the next three decades . One would try to pull me into the land of hurry — of never enough and the fear of missing out , focused on striving , people pleasing to fit in , and filling my calendar with yeses that were not really thought through . I did not know that the grounding and lifesaving culture that gave me breath in my formative years would be one I would struggle to hold on to , like fine beach sand slipping through my fingers .
Despite being a former island girl , used to living on what we have all heard as “ island time ,” I ’ ve had my share of long seasons of exhaustion , hustling and people pleasing . I want you to know that you are not alone , that you have it in you to shift toward a more sustainable pace , to recover your precious life and stay there .
I ’ m here to walk this path with you , showing you what I ’ ve both learned and then unlearned . Helping you — so you don ’ t have to repeat my mistakes . Giving you life-giving concepts , spiritual disciplines , sow living practices and easy rhythms that I knew from my island life , but somehow forgot .
Come . Slow down and breathe easily and deeply again ! Maybe you were never even meant to be moving through life as fast as you have been . Longing to linger with God and connect to others is normal . The need you feel to stop and finally catch your breath is healthy and possible . While I can ’ t offer you a literal stretch of sandy beach to walk on , I can come alongside you as a fellow sojourner and soul nourisher .
Are you anticipating pushback from other people in your life who don ’ t understand your deep personal need to exhale ? Are you afraid of looking weak or lazy ? Are you wondering if slowing down might mean you are actually letting others down ? Or maybe like me , do you have a fear of missing out ?
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If so , I invite you to shift : From exhausted to refreshed and settled . From hurry and hustle to gentle contemplation . From lonely to enjoying barefoot hospitality . From feeling not seen to truly being held .
Perhaps you simply need someone to affirm you as you take your next steps to identifying and advocating for your unique pace , practicing soul care , finding your people and simplifying your faith through a fresh , ongoing friendship with God . Come linger . You ’ ll find solidarity in the stillness . You ’ ll find a deeper sense of community with your people and with the Trinity . You ’ ll thrive from a place of rest as you trust that you are being held .
In a hustle culture like the one we ’ ve been in for so long , we don ’ t know what we don ’ t know . Until we do . Or , in my case , until I remembered my roots again . After what seemed like a hurricane of stormy life events and insecure decisions in the last three decades , my soul started longing to take in another version of that salty island air that I once knew so intimately . I wanted to live unhurried , leaning in to learn more about myself , God and others , but in new ways .
Adapted from Live Slowly : A Gentle Invitation to Exhale by Jodi H . Grubbs . © 2024 by Jodi Heather Grubbs . Used by permission of InterVarsity Press . www . ivpress . com .
Discover a path away from burnout and toward restoration by making space for God , others and yourself . Paperback $ 18.00