Is anybody else so fa-reakin' ready for summer?!?!
I'm in need of a break from school, and volunteering, and making lunches, and snacks and lunches, and snacks...
Stress in our lives?
Unavoidable.
Dealing and diffusing stress?
Necessary.
If I didn't have outlets and tools to help me deal, I would be a puddle of tears. And also morbidly obese.
I'm a cry-er.
I'm also an eat-er
Going back to the end of 2016, and there I was; I'd gained around 15 pounds, and I considered that a success.
In past years, with much less stress, I've managed to pack on 40 pounds or more, and in only six months.
So along with being an eat-er, I'm an easy gain-er.
January is the mental health month. We end the month with an entire day to bring mental wellness to the spotlight.
I know that the dark veil that drapes over mental health is slowly lifting, but it still hangs.
I take my own health seriously, and I consider the wellness of my brain to be the most important of all.
Exercising and eating well play HUGE roles in my mental health and I notice big time when I'm neglecting my body because I get snappy and short tempered and I just feel angry a lot of the time, however, sometimes exercise isn't enough, and medication is required. Sometimes short term, but sometimes long term. And that's OK.
I know when I need a little bit of extra help when I'm doing everything I can to stay healthy, and I still feel like I cannot stay afloat.
When I feel like I'm riding a roller coaster I don't really want to be on, and it's on fire, and there's no place to get on or off.
And I'm alone.
I have no problem at all spending money to talk to someone who is well trained in how to help me work through one of life's sticky spots. I also have no problem letting my doctor know that I could use some help, and getting myself on some meds.
Similar to spending money on a gym membership, looking after your mental health has got an excellent return.
Raising kids and being married are the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
Everyone tells you it's hard, but this sh*t is freakin' hard!
Divorce is starting to happen to people I know and love.
We went through it in our family once, but the gal was never really part of our family, so it was hard, but not devastating. It felt more like "good riddance!", than the kind of mourning that other divorces can feel like.
I get it. Life is stressful. As Mothers, especially, we get the worst behavior and we are treated poorly, and we will still get the dishes and laundry and lunches and snacks made, through it all.
My biggle spent the night at Grandpa and Grandmas, and it is truly like a little gift because we have two children, and the cousins are here, and no one is fighting!
It's these little breaks that can honestly save me from crumbling.
I read an article today about the trials of parenting.
In short, it talked about how hard it is, but that sometimes we don't need the positive reflexive responses to our whining that feels as though we're being patted on the head.
"There, there. This too shall pass. We've all been there. This is just a part of motherhood."
Except when I'm cleaning up spilled cereal while yelling at one child to get socks on, and the other to get the h*ll out the door before she misses the bus, and it's 7:58, and I haven't eaten, or brushed my teeth or packed snacks for preschool, and it is not, in fact, passing.
This article talked about how it's nice to sometimes have someone say, "parenting can be downright awful and sh*tty and the most stressful thing you'll ever experience, and how can I help you?". The End. No short, positive disclaimer about how worthwhile it is. Just an acceptance of your grief, at that particular sh*tty moment in time, and potentially, an offer for a life preserver.
Mom's need each other. We need our village. We need our families. We need help.
Need. Not want. Like, it isn't optional. We need a network of support, or we will fail, ourselves. The thing is, though, that we would sacrifice ourselves for our family because we would hold them up above the waves, drowning, if we had to. #motherhood
