mom

You are Enough

April 17, 2020 /

Wednesday was a hard day. In order to avoid crowds at the grocery store, I changed my grocery day to Wednesday. I woke up with a slight headache. nothing too terrible but I know that if I don’t take anything, it will develop into a migraine. But since it wasn’t a migraine I didn’t want to take too much medicine. Because of that I ended up with that headache all day which influenced my feelings of accomplishment. It took me 2 hours including the drive to take care of the grocery shopping and gas, my 2 year old who is potty training right now had 2 accidents, it took me forever to get him to sleep at nap time and bedtime (I also converted his crib to a daybed) and I didn’t get to all of my list. The boys spent lots of time on electronics and watched a movie on top of that. As I went to sleep though, I pondered upon my day realizing that I am enough.

Stop the comparison game!

We all do this! Whether it has to do with our appearance, our house, our finances, our day to day routines, we compare ourselves to others all of the time. Yes, we can learn from other’s examples but we shouldn’t do things just because others do them. I think we all need to grow in different areas, whether in our spiritual life, improving the way we clean our house, exercise more, declutter… but we should do it because it improves our lives in a positive way.

  • I should exercise not because this person looks so skinny after 4 babies but because it makes me feel better, because I am 44 and staying fit will improve my quality of life. And if I always have a muffin top, that is ok too!
  • I should start my day with prayer because it brings me closer to God and brings me peace and not just because someone else is doing it.
  • I should figure out a way to keep my house clean not because this other person seems not have everything under control and I am jealous of that but because having a decently clean house keeps germs away and gives me peace.

Not everyday is going to be stellar with a to do list completed. It is ok to give yourself grace when you have a bad day, a slow day or a unhappy day. Each new day gives us new opportunities to learn, create and get something accomplished. We do not have to be perfect at anything but I do think we should aspire to grow. Use others talents and examples as tools to help better your life but not to put yourself down. Don’t tell yourself so and so is so great, she has her whole life under control and she even does this and that on top of her daily routines. We only get glimpses of others lives and we all have areas where we struggle and need to improve.

Give yourself credit

I think it is important to give ourselves credit for what we do accomplish and what we are good at. Not to give in to pride but we might have some skills that can help others. Realizing that you have one area in your life under reasonable control might be the little push you need to start working on another area of your life. We are all individuals with different talents, likes and strengths and by being aware of those strengths, we can use them as catalysts to jumstart other things.

What are you good at?

  • Do you make others laugh? That is bringing joy to others.
  • Are you good with budgeting? Share those tips.
  • Are you a whiz at organizing? Help your friends in their homes (well, after quarantine is over, until then share your tips).
  • Do you like to put together outfits? Inspire others to dress and feel good about their appearance.
  • Are you a leader?
  • Do you have experience with children?
  • Are you an artist?

I do believe that we should not be complacent and be happy with mediocrity but neither should we be only be pleased with perfection. I like the t-shirts I have seen with the saying “perfectly imperfect”. God loves us with our imperfections. We need to find a balance in our lives with being happy with who we are and improving who we are.

Thursday was much better than Wednesday, no headache and I was able to get to more of that list. Were those toilets cleaned? Maybe or maybe not! I will continue to find realistic ways to keep the house clean and organized and will use other’s example to improve but not to put myself down. I will continue to have my kids do their lessons but not worry about how others create all kinds of extra fun activities for their kids. I will be content with my life which I am very grateful for right now. And I will continue to try to share the little things that have helped me and might help others!

Have a wonderful weekend! We are celebrating Pascha/Orthodox Easter this weekend.

A bientôt!

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25 Comments

  • Lisa notes

    April 17, 2020 at 10:54 am

    Yes, this is good advice! We don’t have to be “perfect” in anything that we do. If we are making it through another day, we’ve done well. 🙂 Giving ourselves grace in this season is so important. We are enough.

  • Joanne

    April 17, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    The struggle is real! I feel like I have written several posts pretty similar to this through the years when that comparison trap has really gotten me down. It’s so hard to remember sometimes that yes, I am enough. My best try is good enough.

  • Kimberly F Malkiewicz

    April 18, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    I love the photo of your son in his Spider Man helmet. Especially as moms, it seems like things are getting “undone” faster than we do them! I *finally* got myself on an easy cleaning schedule, although that is kind of shot to **** right now at the apartment. Happy Easter!

    • mimifce

      April 19, 2020 at 3:07 pm

      We are having a great weekend albeit some messes in the house so I am only tackling one spot at a time with putting stuff back and I am not worrying about my dirty kitchen floors. I asked my husband to mop them for me so until then I will just sweep and not worry about it.

  • Mica

    April 18, 2020 at 6:40 pm

    Sorry you had such a bad day! I think we will all struggle in isolation, it’s a big adjustment and there’s a lot of worry around! I read a quote the other day that helped – you are not working from home, you are working from home during a pandemic. The same could apply to parenting! it’s a whole new world for us all and we need to give ourselves some grace with it.

    Hope that you are having a nice weekend 🙂 It’s a rainy day here – perfect weather for continuing to isolate at home!

    • mimifce

      April 19, 2020 at 3:05 pm

      We are having a wonderful weekend. Sunday is rainy but we just had a few hours break in the weather before it starts storming again so I had an egg hunt outdoors for the boys.

  • Sonia Aicha

    April 18, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    such an inspiring and positive post, me too my morning headaches never go away by themselves, always end up with a migraine. I am glad thursday was a much better day for you, we all have days like these !
    Stay safe and happy weekend
    Sonia

    • mimifce

      April 19, 2020 at 3:04 pm

      I ended up with another one which turned into a migraine on Friday but at least when it was gone, it was gone.

  • Grace

    April 22, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Such a good reminder. <3 I've definitely been struggling with this lately, and just lots of bad days in general due to this weird new environment we're living in. I love the part where you talk about giving ourselves credit. I completely agree that we should do this. A lot of people, including myself, just get wrapped up in the negatives, what we're not good enough at, what we didn't accomplish… But there's always so many things to look at on the opposite side! Like what we are good at, what we did accomplish, how far we've come since we started… Thanks for the great post. 🙂

    Miles of smiles,
    Grace

    gracefulrags.com

    • mimifce

      April 22, 2020 at 12:00 pm

      You are welcome! For me it is instagram and the moms who do all of these awesome things with their kids right now and I am “here, watch some tv”!