I am so tired. Not physically, but mentally.
I am tired of grading myself all of the time.
House not perfectly clean- fail.
Kids eating a Happy Meal for dinner- fail.
Kids watching too much tv- fail.
Eating too many cookies- fail.
Not being thinner- fail.
Wanting to nap instead of do laundry- fail.
Not being as fun/sexy/cute as I used to be for my husband- fail.
I am exhausted. EXHAUSTED.
I have good kids. I have a good husband. I know this. And I know I put alot of myself into these relationships- but it just never feels like enough.
There's not enough of myself to have anything left for myself.
I am so weary. I love my life. I am SO blessed. But at times, I feel deeply burdened by it all.
And that is a huge failure to me.
What is wrong with me, that I cannot see anything beyond the failures?
I look at my beautiful clean house and only see the laundry waiting to be folded. I look at my sweet happy kids and only see the messy face or the stained clothing.
I need to learn to LOOK BEYOND what I see.
To see that my daughter is loved not just by me, but by everyone. Because she is sensitive and nurturing and kind. - Success
That my son is strong and fearless and loving.- success
That my relationship with my husband is close and safe and we laugh ALOT.- success
That the time I would normally take making my house spotless is much better spent wrestling with Sam or coloring with Lily. -success
I don't know how other moms see themselves. I don't know if anyone else struggles with this. But I DO know that we are always our own worst critics. And what I can say about that is maybe we need to look at ourselves as God sees us.
He sees our heart. He sees our struggle to BE all TO all. He knows that at the heart and center of our lives are the children he gave us. I also believe that the internal dialogue berating myself for the unwashed dish or the piled up laundry makes Him sad.
So today is a day for changing. For loving on my kids and letting the house come in a distant second. For not pretending to be perfect. For not acting as if I have it all together. For being myself- with all of my flawed thinking- and knowing that as long as my kids and husband feel loved, I am doing the best job I can.
