I am not a DO IT ALL Mother
I am not a do-it-all mother. I have (only a handful of) priorities and I do what it takes to Get. Ish. Done. I intentionally keep myself very busy because I am much more efficient when there is more on my plate.
I am a 31 (shit, I actually think I'm 32) year old mom who can only do two things at one time. I've joked about this very thing. A lot. I can only give 100%. I'm incapable of giving more (you are too, btw). If I have a sick child, that kid gets 80% of my attention ... which means "thing 2", (the other kid, my workout, my business, my house, my husband, my chores, scrolling my feed or eating food) only gets 20% of my focus. It's not always fair, but that's how I roll. I had stressed myself out for so many years trying to be on top of EVERY spinning plate. It's impossible, something's gotta give. You know what I decided to give up? Television, and socializing (I still do these things just not as often as I may want to).
I think I have become pretty decent with accepting the fact that my attention cannot be perfectly split between all important things once I narrowed down my priorities. I am a mother, I am a wife and I am a small business owner. I split my time between those three things every single day. Sometimes I give 99% of myself to barreALLEY ... which means I’ve got 1% left for dem.boys ... anddd those are the days when David (my husband) just smiles, slowly backs away, and takes the boys out of the house (mostly because they are all scared of me ... and let's be honest- they should be.)
I am a driven, focused person. I have been like that ever since I can remember and believe it was a trait I developed from being a competitive gymnast. Gymnastics required so much of my daily life (we had 5+ hour practices each day) and I had to figure out how to fit everything else in. The end result ... I fit school in and everything else got cut. (As a college student my social skills got a lot stronger and school fell to the waist wayside for a bit, oopsies).
My health has always been a priority, and luckily I have been able to make a career out of it. People often ask how I can stay so dedicated to it. My answer is simple ... because it's important to me. I want to be healthy, I want to feel good inside + out. So I do what it takes to make that a reality. End of story.
One thing I know- if you want it done, it has to be on the list. I am a PEN + PAPER list maker. I swear, I only get things done because I get to physically cross it off. On Sundays, I make a huge Master List of everything that has to get done in the upcoming week. I write EVERYTHING down.. workout, shower, carpool, phone calls, gardening, any task that can be completed with a "check mark" gets put on the Master List. I then break that list out by day. Monday - Sunday. At that point, my list of 30+ things instantly becomes more achievable because I only have a handful of items to tackle per day. I work the list every day. Most tasks get completed, but some don't and I roll them over to another day, or week. (<-- and I don't stress out about that part).
If you ever feel like you "aren't enough" or you "don't have time" I challenge you to write down your priorities and then cut that list to 3 things. Those are the things you need to dedicate your energy to. You are only one person. Wouldn't you rather be good at 3 things than be overwhelmed by a million? I also challenge you to make lists and use it to stay on top of your priorities
Tell me your mom hacks. I'd love to get a survival list of hacks going!
xx
Kendra