Ah, readers! I could not believe the support I received from all of you regarding my social media experiment. It has now been about a month and a half since and I figured I owed you an update. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, so stick with me. Removing social media apps from my phone initially gave me an immense sense of freedom. I had a chunk of time that I put to use by reading books, blogs, think or just stare into space and do nothing. I loved it. I noticed my habitual behavior of opening up my phone and staring at the empty spots where my apps used to be. Then I’d recover and realize how ingrai ..read more

We recently returned from a visit to our friends in California – 500 miles each way. I shared driving responsibilities with my husband and drove half – the non-mountainous half. We had lots of time to talk and think. To break up the boredom, we listened to The Great Courses Lecture Series on World War 2. (Highly recommended, by the way.) During this road trip, I was reminded however of one of my husband’s quirks: he doesn’t like to stop along the way. I don’t mean bathroom breaks; breaks for food and water are fine and necessary. It’s just that his idea of  road trip does not involve expl ..read more

As an unschooler, nothing brings me more joy than our book club. When the children were little, I would read to them. We spent many afternoons with them sketching and me reading aloud. Now that they are older and I am working outside the house part time, we have a book club. My husband has enthusiastically signed on to it as well. We assign everyone a book to read and set a due date to discuss it. Our family book club usually happens in a pizza pub and we look forward to it monthly. Outside of our family book club, my own reading has picked up as well. Here, I’m going to name the books that I ..read more

At what point do we stop growing? The answer is easy when you’re a kid, when growth is mainly a step into something bigger, stronger, taller. Never, you think. I’ll never stop. Things get more complicated as you get older. The answer changes. The question itself alters. The older I get, the more I associate growth with work. It isn’t without effort. It’s painful. Many days, it feels like teething. Like pruning. Real growth involves my intense, conscious effort and choice. So the answer to the question of when I will stop growing is a quiet prayer:  “Never, I hope.” The post On Growth and ..read more

April is the cruelest month, they say, and perhaps they’re right. The coming of spring this year has coincided with the beginning of my birthday week and I’m possibly in the middle of a full blown midlife crisis. I will be 45 in a week, just that side of my 40s, closer to my 50s. I have lived many lives in my 45 years, at least, it feels like I have. From Bombay, India to California to Washington state. From student of literature, to real estate broker, to stay at home mom, to homeschooler, to writer, to unschooler, to churchy, to warehouse worker, to bodybuilder, to commissary kitchen assista ..read more

This has been a long time coming. *deep breath* I am no longer an official member of a church. I guess in many of your eyes, it means I am no longer a Christian. And that’s okay, but I want to clarify what that means to me. When I came to Christ (which I am realizing is *not* the same as coming to Christianity) it was because my atheist husband (yeah, you read that right) told me to buy a copy of The Bible because he sensed that there was something growing in me that needed exploring. Granted, I was always always spiritually inclined, but I craved structure, especially after having kids. If yo ..read more

When you know why you failed the last time, you can fail forward. Needless suffering hurts. That is, of course, the sting of failure. But if you figure out what made you fail the last time and work diligently to fix the problem, you have now redeemed your last fail. Failing forward is giving meaning to your suffering. Even if it is in retrospect. The post If You Fail, Fail Forward appeared first on Purva Brown ..read more

I’ve been reading Robert Greene’s Mastery lately. I am proud to say I have finished the first chapter and am getting to what, I believe, will be the part I will enjoy and learn from the most. I guess you can tell this is going to be a bit of a mixed review. While I am quite of fan of Robert Greene’s work, I have to admit I wanted to put down this book more than a few times during the first chapter. This is when he is talking about how to find your “Life Purpose.” Mystical language aside, his harping on the idea that your “parents push you into a profession that makes money” rubbed me the wron ..read more

If you haven’t been to my Amazon author page lately, you should know that I have dropped all the prices on my unschooling, fitness and fiction titles. That’s right… ALL my books are currently available for a bargain. And if you’re a Kindle Unlimited member, many are available to read for free! Looking for a new way to homeschool, pick up The Classical Unschooler. Already homeschooling and want to customize more? Read Create Your Own Homeschooling Curriculum which also comes with its own companion workbook. Or check out The After Diet: Real Fitness and Nutrition After Two Decades of Dieting. It ..read more

In my last post titled “Why Would I Intentionally Gain Weight?” I wrote about my current plan to bulk and gain muscle. What I didn’t mention was that I have tried exactly this multiple times before – three times before, to be exact – and failed. This is my fourth attempt at a bulk. What gives? Why is this so hard? As a recreational bodybuilder, I have figured out how to lose fat and how to maintain, but gaining muscle remains my one challenge. This is perhaps because gaining weight seems wrong to me. As someone who was a fat kid and has struggled with weight loss well into her 30s, the idea of ..read more