Today I had a pretty productive day, which for me feels like an impossibility most days. I was able to finish all my chores early and finished daunting alterations project. Toward the end of the day, I started having this niggling feeling that I missed something. The whisper of ‘you didn’t do enough for your boys’ started to sneak through. Pangs of guilt were beginning to wash up on the shore of my emotions and my joy of having a great day was starting to crumble.
Something changed when I walked into their room. I found myself reacting in the total opposite way of how I was feeling. I loved my boys, gave them hugs and kisses, played with them and read stories. I got them cleaned up changed and in bed with their baba (and sippy cups), and did their normal music going. I went into the room afraid that I was ruining their little lives because my focus was on two big projects. I left the room feeling more loved and joyful than maybe my kids were.
What did I learn from this?
- Don’t be so hard on yourself.
- Just do the best that YOU can do, no one else.
- Focus on the good in every situation
- If you feel like you can do nothing, focus on ONE good thing
I focused on the boys having a fun bedtime routine for 30 minutes and it honestly made my day. Emotionally beating yourself up for what you are NOT doing solves nothing.
You know what else happened? The next morning, I go in the boy’s room and my big boy sees me and immediately starts laughing and has the biggest smile on his face. We don’t realize how that one thing will affect our kids, and I’m so grateful for it.
Babies and Gentleman 