Our Society and Perfection

Lately I've been in such a good mood, I surprise myself. I find that I am more centered and calm. Best of all, when the Mermaid or the Guppy start fussing or screaming, I find that I am able to approach them in a calm manner and resolve it a lot quicker and faster than when I approach them with anger or frustration.

The reason why my mood is changed is because I had to change some things around in my life. I had to change my perspective of myself as a mother, a wife, and a person in general.

You see, lately I had been feeling very overwhelmed. Between running both businesses, having the Guppy and at one point the Mermaid and the Knight being sick, and homeschooling, and the other project that my business partner and I are working on, I started to get buried. I couldn't do it all. No more were we having healthy, hot meals in the evening; rather it was a "you eat whatever I can find in a freezer that comes out of a box". The house started to suffer; now, I'm definitely not a neat freak, my house is "comfortably clean" at the most, but it had been getting bad. As in a not-healthy way. Throw into that mix the fact that we recently hit some unexpected financial bumps, and you had one stressed mama. I was biting every one's head off and freaking out in general.

It was time to take a big step back, and breathe for a bit. And so I did.

The Knight and I had a long talk about how our life looks at the moment. The Knight has been stressed at well, since he has taken on a lot of additional duties that I can't do due to my businesses, and he was being buried as well. We spent all Tuesday night just cleaning the house so that it was back to acceptable. And we talked, laughed, and reconnected. We decided that we aren't perfect. No, our house is not going to be perfectly clean - ever. Some days we will lose our temper, our kids will eat processed food, and we will slack a little bit in our goals. But, we need to give ourselves a break anyway. We're doing the best we can. And we need to take time to recharge our spirits.

Can I tell you how relieved I feel? To be able to say to myself, "You are not Superwoman; and that's okay. No one is." and believe it? To look in the mirror and realize that the person I am seeing there is far from perfect, but that I love her anyway? How could I not feel that way, when there are two little girls who wake up every day wanting nothing more than for me to be with them, play with them, and cuddle with them? If me just being myself is enough for them, then it is enough for me.

Our media and our society likes to portray this image of the "perfect" mom, whose house is always clean, kids are always behaved, who is always put together, gorgeous, and smiling. She is not real. Forget her. Don't try to be a perfect Supermom. After all, when your kids get a boo boo, or are sad, or just want to cuddle, they don't run to the Supermom on TV; they run to you, even when you are still in pj's at 1:00 in the afternoon and haven't showered in two days.

So today, be gentle on yourself. Take some time to recharge your spirit. What I've been doing is reading a good book and drinking a cup of tea (without a baby on the boob!), or making a list of the things I accomplished that day, or the things I am grateful for. If you make a mistake, forgive yourself. If you find you are thinking negative thoughts about yourself, stop and change them into positive statements. Parenting is one of the most challenging jobs out there. But it is also the most rewarding. So never forget about the rewarding part - and reward yourself for a job well done.

I'd love to hear about your favorite ways to recharge your spirit. :o)

Our Society and Perfection