Ah… the calm that comes when the holidays are over. The decorations are put away until next year, the kids are back in school, and you’re ready to make a fresh start. There are promises of healthy eating and exercise, not to mention the goal of being the perfect mom to perfect children. Then it happens … you wake up!
I’m still finding random bits of New Year’s Eve confetti, and I haven’t taken down my Christmas card display, but I have the best of intentions. I have my list. I don’t actually set New Year’s resolutions, per se, because I’m guaranteed to pretty much feel like a failure on January 2nd! What I do is write about a million lists on a daily basis. There’s my grocery list, my to do list, my bills to pay list, my meal planning list, my list of blog ideas, etc…. I consider each of these lists a set of personal resolutions. This way, no matter how badly I do on Monday, I can still start fresh on Tuesday!
I’m not going to pretend like I don’t want to spend more meaningful time with my kids, because I do, but I also know that I’m way more likely to be a happier mom if things in my home are in order. That’s why my daily list has things like:
- shower (that was I know I can cross off at least one thing!)
- make bed
- do a load of laundry (that’s not nearly enough to keep up, but at least I’ve done something!)
- call my sister
Every so often I’ll have bigger things, but even when we have something big, I usually chop it into small pieces on my to do list so that I don’t get overwhelmed. I’m a visual person, and I like to see things crossed off my list; it makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something with my day, even if the only thing I’ve crossed off is shower! If I can get a few things crossed off while my kids are playing in the morning then I’m ready to help with and be present for homework and piano in the afternoon.
I want my children to know that the job that is most important to me and the thing that brings me the greatest joy is being their mom. I worry sometimes that my kids don’t know how much I love being a mom, so I want them to see me happy (not in a creepy Stepford way) more than they see me frustrated. I could make that my New Year’s resolution, but it’s not something I really want to forget in a couple of weeks. That’s why I do the daily lists. It helps me keep my purpose in mind every single day.
How about you? How do you handle resolutions?
My spouse and I stumbled over here by a different page and
thought I might as well check things out. I like what
I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to looking at your
web page repeatedly.