Loving My Actual Life

An Experiment in Relishing What's Right in Front of Me

By: Alexandra Kuykendall

Narrated by: Carly Robins

In life there is the ideal: fulfilling work, thriving relationships, financial security. Not to mention an orderly and beautiful home and children who never misbehave. And then there's reality: frustrations, illness, feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. We can wait around for our circumstances to change and in the process miss the goodness right in front of us. Or we can choose to love our actual lives, right here and now.

In this entertaining and insightful book, Alexandra Kuykendall chronicles her nine-month experiment to rekindle her love of her ordinary actual life. After wiping her calendar as clean as a mother of four can, Kuykendall focuses on one aspect of her life each month, searching for ways to more fully enjoy her current season. By intentionally adding one thing each month that will make her jump for joy, she provides a practical challenge you can easily replicate in your life. With humor, poignancy, and plenty of personal stories, she shows how a few small changes can make this crazy-busy life one of holy contentment.

©2016 Alexandra Kuykendall (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"If you ever get the chance to read anything written by Alexandra Kuykendall, take it. She is a gentle, trustworthy storyteller who lives the words she writes about. In a noisy world, I deeply appreciate her thoughtful, grounded voice." (Emily P. Freeman, author of Simply Tuesday)

wonderful book. I could not stop listening!!

I love listening to this book. I plan on implementing so many of her ideas in my life.

LIfe lessons on auto...

1) Instilling all the important life lessons has often overwhelmed me. Last night I was explaining why I wasn't reading bedtime stories (with insights about sleep cycles from "Sleep Smarter" by Shawn Stevenson.)...

... "I heard what Mom's listening to and it says you have to take care of yourself to help others." David told Sarah...

...I loved where he was going with this, so I jumped on board and added: "Taking care of myself, helps me take better care of you." (Which Sarah cared much more about than sleep hygiene and is a useful life lesson that makes me uncomfortable- so I'd don't tend to talk about it.)

The audiobook wasn't meant for him, but it sure was nice that he picked it up (and took over explaining) so easily. That's one life lesson I didn't have to articulate...

2) Her busy life makes me appreciate mine much more.

3) I love the Christian perspective of this book, yet if it wasn't labeled Christian I wouldn't know if it was. It is so natural. Her life is like mine in many ways church & Bible study groups are part of it, but the whole book feels very relaxed and unscholarly... something I enjoy.

Truly practical tips for my everyday life.

the narrator was okay. but still feel the audible version was easier way to get thru the book since self help books are usually pretty hard to get thru (for me anyway)

Great voice, ok story.

I love the narrator, she keeps you engage in the story. I would've enjoy more the story without all the bible talk though.

Funny, and inspiring

What made the experience of listening to Loving My Actual Life the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed listening to this journal style book. Her adventures while making small changes to embrace the life she has been given, can inspire the listener to look at simple ways to enjoy your own life more.

I loved this book! I now need the hardcopy!!

This book is perfect!! A must read for all mama's out there. The narrative was beautiful.

God brought this to me

I’ve been not very content with my life lately, so I wanted a book on this topic. Here comes this book, I’m only 3/4 through it and I almost got emotional as I realized it has so much more than I thought. God wanted this for me and I am so grateful.

Inspiring & Practical steps

This was a great book to help inspire and motivate change for the good. so happy to have listened to this book! Thanks for changing "my actual life"!