Mommy's To-Do List


Today is Monday and, whenever I need to start something new, I do it on a Monday.  Why?  Because it is the beginning of the week and what better time to begin something than at the beginning of the week?

If you read my last post, then you know that I am ready to become more than what I have allowed myself these past several months.  So, when brainstorming about how I wanted to go about this, I made a list.

(I love lists.  Seriously.  I even get excited to make a grocery list.  We all have our quirks....)

So, this list.  This list is fabulous.  It is my spiritual  list.  My individuality list.  My ME before MOMMY list.  This is the list that I will look to every week  to ensure that I am being the best ME I can be so I can be the best MOMMY I can be.

There is but one rule:

I have to do at least half of the list every week.

When I wrote this list, I not only thought about all the things I used to do before L, but I thought about the things I missed doing the most.  Some of these are common, other's aren't,  but they are important to me as an individual.

Are you ready to see my list?

Okay.

Mommy's To-Do List:

1.  Cup of herbal tea in the morning before L wakes up and a cup of herbal tea in the evening  after L goes to bed.

2.  Reading

3.  Writing (Creatively and/or what I am reading about)

4.  Listening to Music

5.  Burning incense.

6.  Controlled eating and diet 

7.  Sleeping and Waking Schedule

8.  Yoga/Meditation

9.  Quiet Reflection (Just written word or music to think and reflect by/with)

10.  More outdoor time


I am very excited about my list!  I have already done some of them this morning and I am feeling a tiny bit better already.  This week, I will also be getting my "before" office finished (basically, I'm setting up a workable space to write until the office is completely done) and I will be setting up an outdoor area for me as well. 

I will be sharing several things with you all as my journey continues.  Please stay tuned to the blog and to Instagram for photo's and thoughts on my journey.  

Here's to individuality!

Happy Monday!

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Journal Entry: Me Before Mommy

***The following are words from my journal, scribbled furiously in the late night hours, when the body is ready for sleep, but the brain will not allow it.  They are serving as a new beginning for me and as a way to get back to the sole purpose of this blog.  Watch for more of these types of post.  This is as real and as raw as I can get.  They are typed just how they were written.




When I became a mother, I stopped doing everything I enjoyed to focus solely on our daughter.  People told me that was a mistake.  I actually thought they were full of it until recently. 

One day, not very long ago, I was standing in the living room watching my child throw her third tantrum in as many hours, and I thought to myself, "This is not what I signed up for.  No one told me about this.  I need to get away from this child!"

(Moms:  You know you've had moments like that.)

Except I couldn't just leave her-she's 2!  I have no one to call in times such as those to help so I did what any normal Mom would do...

L went and took a nap a half an hour early and I went outside and cried.

I cried out of frustration.
I cried out of anger.
I cried out of guilt.

Then, lastly, I cried for my old life.

I couldn't remember the last cup of tea I had actually sipped and enjoyed.

I couldn't remember the last time I had listened to music other than in the car.

I couldn't remember the last time I wrote anything in my journal.

I missed college, I missed academic learning, I missed getting excited over writing papers and essays I was passionate about.

I missed sleeping.

I missed going to the pool and soaking up the sun in my two-piece bathing suit with my music and a good book.

......................

Suddenly, I realized, those people at the beginning, were right.

I completely and utterly screwed myself.

I wasn't happy this way.  I am my own individual; separate from my daughter, yet somehow I've managed to mesh us into one.

I have to get this balanced back out.

There needs to be a separation that takes place.  I love my daughter, but I was ME before I was MOMMY.

I'm not saying I am more important than she.  I am saying quite the opposite.  I need to get back to ME so that my daughter can learn that individuality is as important as the air we breathe.

How do I teach that to her when I stopped being ME the minute she was born?

There is only one thing to do: 

I must go back to being ME.

However, now I have a new equation:

Being Me + Being Mommy=Whole Person

I don't think I am the first person this has happened to.

Honestly, I'm almost certain that someone is going to read this and think, "Oh my...that is ME!"

Well hello, you.

Welcome.

Let's figure out how to get back together.


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Cracking Open

This has been a hard week for me.

Over the past couple of weeks I could feel myself slipping into a familiar crevice.  I seem to go through phases where I cram so much of myself down to make room for everyone and everything else.  The pattern is always the same: night wakings, anxiety, snippy, tears, and withdrawing.  I then feel the familiar stab of being wedged too tightly into the crevice and I snap.

I snapped this week.

I am so tired of so many things within myself.  My inner monologue stinks.  I let people win who don't need to win.  I allow myself to be pushed aside and forgotten about.  I melt into my corner of the couch and stare aimlessly at the television, thanking the damn thing for allowing me to forget about everything else.  I feel useless, unimportant,  and unnoticed.  I allowed it all to happen this way.  I stopped paying attention and just let go.  Letting go is good sometimes, but not in this case.

This is not a happy season for me right now.

I always said I would be honest with you and I meant it.  I mean it now.

I cracked open Tuesday.  Then a little more on Wednesday.

And now, in the very early hours of Thursday morning, I am trying to figure out where to go from here.

I've cracked open and now I can heal.

Good, I say.

I don't mind being broken.

We all are and that's what being human is all about.

The healing though, the healing, that's how you become.

I suppose it is time for me to become more.



I started by writing here.

Words have never failed me, judged me, ridiculed me, or betrayed me.

Most days, in the season of cracking open and becoming more, they are all that work for me.


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