Hard Days in Motherhood + Entrepreneurship
This week a client said to me, “what is your secret, how do you do it all, how do you keep it all together?”
I was shocked to think that anyone thinks I have it all together, because I most certainly do not. In fact, I find myself in my own cry puddles here and there when the kids go to bed because sometimes the load seems so big for one set of shoulders!
Last week as my husband headed to the airport for a trip, I was in the middle of a cold that was knocking me out. Just as I thought I couldn’t feel any worse, I started throwing up. (The kind where you don’t make it to the bathroom and I was so weak I needed to stay a minute on the floor, surrounded by my own mess).
While I didn’t think I was that loud, the kids emerged from bed at 1 am and were ready to be ‘up’ for the day as I was struggling through whatever was going through my body. And in the icky sticky mess, my husband was waving good bye at 2 am. So like a viral zombie, I dragged myself to get them water, snacks and toys as I continued with my sick mess. (In retrospect, I wish I could have seen this all on a candid camera).
Waking up the next day on 1 hour of sleep, I had to have a plan to fill in a presentation I was delivering and get back to 2 clients who were dependent on me for some exciting things in their life. I had to do the house, my work, (wash my barfy hair) while doing my best mothering on 0/10 energy. (I’ll take the strongest JAVA, please).
My first thought - PANIC. Everything is going sideways. I am not killing it at everything. What a mess.
After a few breaths, I prayed on a new thought - “this is just one moment in time, everything is ok!”
And so, I was reminded of the power and value in “not making a story of it” because that is where the spirals begin. Instead, I reconnected to the prayer of “dear god, please allow me to see this is just one moment in time, and help me to see how this is fortifying my strength in all the rolls and my life. Please help me to see that everything I need to attend to will be there in perfect timing just down the road.”
Some days, motherhood can feel all consuming - the fatigue, the emotion, the handling it all without a lot of village (funny enough, the same feelings can happen in entrepreneurship!) And my biggest lesson has been to not make a story of it. Breathe through the moment without needing to find profound meaning. And then when you are ready, there is usually a powerful message of strength.
But remember, we don’t always need to be ‘strong’. Sometimes we need to cry, sometimes we need to say ‘this feels hard’, sometimes we need a minute to vent so that the channels of emotions do not get blocked up.
When you are in a hard day of motherhood and or entrepreneurship, please remember…
You are not alone
This is just one moment
You can always find the grace, and sometimes you just need to feel what you need to feel!
I truly believe that the best things in our life come with challenge, sacrifice and a lot of learning, but keep asking yourself ‘would I have this any other way?’ For me, I would not. And so I wake up every day, prepared for the WAVES of it all….
