This whole life and raising kids thing I mean.
We are so privileged in our society, yet we're looking under every rock and around every corner for the key to health and happiness while we are literally running ourselves into the ground.
We can’t do it all.
How do you work full time, eat home cooked meals, have a clean house, do laundry (the never ending laundry), run the kids to school, all of their appointments and sports and activities and birthday parties (the pinterest worthy kind) and play dates, don't forget sick days and quality time, what about down time, and still have time for our friends and our spouses, volunteering in your community, have time to exercise and fit in some self-care, don't forget that. Don't you feel like a ball in a pinball machine?
How can you do all of that ?
There literally isn’t enough time in a day.
Period.
I don’t care how much you think the supermom next door has her sh*t together, she doesn’t, I promise you.
She has the exact same feeling of being overwhelmed as you….
She’s putting way too much on her plate too and there isn’t enough time for her to pull it off either….
Ladies, we are mommas, and we are doing our best in a world that continuously demands more and more and more of us.
How many blog posts have you read where the author is screaming for help, for some sort of balance in her daily life and her to-do list? I read them every week.
We feel better when we read them because we are her, right?
But then what?
We go right back to the friggin’ treadmill called life that is set at a 10 incline on a level 100 speed ahhhhh!
So what can we do?
I think as simple as it sounds, and as hard as it is to do, we have to get back to basics….
We need to slow down.
We have to learn to listen to our bodies again, they are telling us what we need, but we tune them out.
Example: When was the last time you actually felt rested?
I know I can’t even remember anymore.
My body screams at me all the time (and for the record in case he’s reading this, I don’t listen to my husband when he tells me to rest or nap either lol). I'm a work in progress...
I have a 7 month old baby plus 2 other kids and it’s easy to just assume that it’s normal when all moms seem
exhausted.
But I’m learning that just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal.
Let me repeat that.
Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal!!
We think that being exhausted is normal, that health issues in ourselves and our kids are normal, that being overwhelmed is normal, that wishing for more out of life but feeling trapped is normal.
We call it ‘busy’.
We celebrate it actually. Who is busier?? Who can say yes to more things?
I catch myself constantly getting away from basics in the name of ‘have to’ or ‘shoulds’ but realistically I have to ask myself if I’m enjoying it?
Life I mean.
Doing 100 things in life when I’m so tired I can’t even think straight isn’t me being happy.
Are you enjoying your life?
Truly enjoying it?
I don’t mean moments, I mean most of it on a daily basis…
Are you enjoying raising your babies?
Do you wish you had more time with them?
Do you feel like ships passing in the night with your spouse half of the time?
My husband and I talk about this a lot lately. How time with family is everything and how it seems like everywhere we go, we talk to other people and it seems like everyone is feeling out of control, not really loving where they’re at with work and time with their kids, but not knowing what to do about it and hey, it’s normal right? Everyone is in the same boat so they just keep chugging along.
I think I can, I think I can….
We are burning out!
We are too busy.
We are too freakin’ busy guys!!!!!
I think our generation is lucky actually. A TON of us are starting to see this more clearly.
Maybe it's because we’re in our 30’s (.....okay I’m 37 I guess that’s late thirties lol) but still, we are losing that ‘give a crap what other people think’ problem we used to have, and are starting to move into the next phase of life where we choose what is more important to us and run with it.
It's why I left my 'successful' but super stressful corporate job, and work from home now. Our generation is moving this way.
We have the work ethic of Gen X but have the foresight to have more balance and joy in our lives like Gen Y.
We are workers and dreamers which is a super powerful combination and we are slowly but surely figuring out how to make our lives happier.
Work a different way so you can live a different way is a real thing now.
Getting back to basics means drinking water, sleeping, eating whole foods, getting proper vitamins and minerals, and reducing stress…. you know, so your body can actually perform its function which is to stay in balance and take care of YOU.
Stress is not the badge of honour that we thought it was, it is what is slowly killing us. We see it in the generation above ours.
Who and what you surround yourself with on a daily basis are huge factors in your lifestyle. Start by just being mindful of that.
Here we are in a society that celebrates being at work, loading up our schedules, and not spending time with our loved ones.
I think maybe we've been doing it wrong....
I know I'm not the only one.
What are your thoughts?
xo
m