Once upon a time there was a mama who had so much enjoy and be thankful for. But she had a most unfortunate tendency toward feeling sorry for herself. She tried to hold herself to impossible standards, forgetting that blogs and FaceBook are seriously selective accounts of other mamas' lives. Rather than being pleased with what she can accomplish in a day and enjoying spending time with her wee children she felt guilty for not doing more. She had dreams of doing it all, yesterday. And she descended at times into hard core self pity that she couldn't even spend 20 minutes doing what she wanted followed by guilt for being so selfish as to take what little time she had to peruse online inspiration for projects she can't work on let alone accomplish and reading rather than washing those ever accumulating dishes. She was tired and frustrated and something had to give.
And the moral of the story? Balance. By all means, mama needs to take the time to wash her face before bed whenever possible. And wash as many of the dinner dishes before bed as possible. And yes, even knit and read as much as possible. It's finding the good rather than dwelling on the not so hot. Because, really girl, you have to stop hanging onto the things that are less than stellar and make you unhappy. Find the joy in a clean sink and the fun in small children. Change your perspective so that those small acts of naughtiness are problem solving. Keep on plugging away on the 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life until you somehow get through all 21 days. Practice gratitude. Pray without ceasing. Go outside. Take the time to enjoy all those little moments of happiness - chocolate and a clean table, baby smiles and fresh bread, sunshine and dancing in the kitchen. And take it easy, Rome wasn't built in a day and you don't have to be supermama.
Would someone mind reminding me of that every 20 minutes or so? ;-)
