I’ve been thinking a lot recently about this blog and the impression it gives others. I don’t want this to be a Pollyanna view of life as a working mom. Life is messy. I’m not a “perfect” mom, and we certainly have bad days in this house. Our home is often loud with people shouting and running around. I put my foot in my mouth often. And if you could see how many books and toys are just haphazardly stacked all over our family room….Woah.
Regardless of these so-called “fails,” I am very happy with my professional career and my family life. In many ways, we are lucky to have the life we do. Much of it is also engineered by thought, listening to others, experimentation, learning from mistakes, and letting things go.
This blog is my outlet for sharing what works well for us, not to convince you to adopt my strategies or feel bad for doing it differently. I’m just another perspective. I’ve always enjoyed hearing from others so I can satisfy my curiosity and so I can consider new ideas to implement myself. This blog is my contribution to that space.
So, all of that has been swirling around my head, and then today I saw an article posted by Working Mother about all the things working moms are not doing. It was my eureka moment of how to structure this post to share my “I Don’ts.”
I Don’t…
- Regularly meal plan – I hate the whole process of planning meals, grocery shopping, making food, insisting to kids that this is the only food they are getting, and then cleaning it up. I typically skip meal planning and pull something random together with what’s in the house. It then becomes increasingly stressful and annoying.
- Clean – We have largely outsourced this with a cleaning service and the robot vacuum. I just worry about daily maintenance, mainly in the kitchen. Deep cleaning rarely happens. There’s no annual “Spring Cleaning” in this house.
- Play make believe – You won’t find me on the floor playing with superhero toys or race cars. I pawn this task off on the brothers. They play these games very well with each other.
- Stick to an exercise schedule – I’ve never made this much of a priority, even when I say it is something I want. I think it is related to being an Obliger.
- Fix things – If a toy breaks, my immediate response is “talk to Dad.” I can repair many things, but it’s not my jam. My husband is quite the handyman anyway.
- Always keep my cool – I’m patient until I’m not, and then everyone knows Momma ain’t happy.
I’m at peace with this list. I’m never going to be able to “do it all” 100% of the time. What I can do is make sure I spend my time and energy on what is important to me. I’m okay with that plan.
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
Reflect. Plan. Live. 