Surrender: An Exhausted Mom’s New Parenting Mantra To Life!
No one said parenting was easy. I’d done it once and I was ready to do it again. Everyone said it’s twice the blessing.
Sure. But since I’ve had two kids, everything is twice that much. Oftentimes at the end of the day, I feel like I’m plummeting into a huge black hole. Things are out of control and I’m practically having a coronary!! I’m not a generally anxious person and parenting is enjoyable. But I do suffer apprehension about two things in particular: namely sleep and time.
Also, I’m a sucker for doing things on schedule. So much so that if something doesn’t happen the way it is meant to , it’s consequence can have me worried to death. The mere anticipation of what might occur if things don’t work as clock-work has somehow, managed to make me a maniac.
While I can handle the more intimidating things pertaining to parenting, I get worked up about losing sleep, worried about a future exhaustion that may be waiting in the morning due to the sleep that’s being disturbed right now, whether by insomnia, or one of my kids waking me up” I absolutely hear her!
But she also say’s ‘It’s ok to let go.’
Kind of like ‘Rain.’
The mere mention of rain panics me. It conjures up images of me drenched from head to toe, of me running wet through puddled roads, of me basically a mess.
But if I treat it as water, can I be better prepared to face it? Perhaps. Maybe carry my raincoat, probably take an umbrella, probably work my way around it and…surrender to is as an occurrence of nature.
Likewise in life, I have learnt to surrender to those extra minutes that the kids need before it’s light out, learnt to surrender to them taking extra time playing, learnt to just not be pushing myself and the kids chasing after a clock all the time.
So on days when I have a lot of things on my plate and the kids are being just kids, I surrender to allowing them a few extra minutes. If I can see that we are not heading toward an 8 pm bedtime because teeth are being brushed at 7:57, I will just gift myself a package of 15 minutes. Instead of harping on every minute that passes after 8, resisting it and resenting it, I reset the goal, and remind myself, that like rain water, it’s only 15 minutes.
Inspired by: Rookie Moms
Parenting is the most draining thing to both parents, yes to even men if the man is involved in the child’s life. It is highly energy sapping. It is a thankless job. But there lies the satisfaction. The feeling that you not only brought a human being to earth but you also molded a great human. There lies the satisfaction.