Mom, It’s What You Do, Not Who You Are

February, an already short month, quickly became a blur as I took time to invest in myself–a rare, but necessary endeavor. After all, as much as I enjoy the feel of my superhero cape flying in the breeze, every now and then life shows me that I cannot juggle all the balls and juggle them well; something must give. So in February, it was my writing that took a back seat to other works–more on that at another time. In the meantime, I have been thinking a lot about the balance between being “all in” for your children (or in my case now, my one child) and still being a person with your own interests. When I saw a couple of memes and moms talking about something similar, I knew exactly what I wanted to share. It looks as if maybe someone else needed to hear about it, too.

I wrote earlier about having a wellness strategy and knowing what you need from this environment–not for your child to succeed, but for you to win. The reality, though, is that after you have cleaned up, organized, bought books, and in general done all the things, you might be the most prepared and confident homeschool mom on the planet, but a bona fide wreck otherwise.

 

original photo found at http://www.mummy365ng.com/2015_08_01_archive.html

 

Anyone who follows me anywhere on social media knows that I am now an avid gardener. It is almost laughable the amount of disdain I had for gardening tasks when this latest (in an extended series of starts and finishes) backyard venture became real for us.

My father-in-law made a decision that his grandchildren would have a garden. I admired his determination and hard work, but I honestly dreaded the bugs that undermine a gardener’s hard work, the weeds, and the additional hours out in the TX heat. At least that is what my earliest experiences with gardening were. Nevertheless, because of what he began, we tried to stay that course.

Fast-forwarding almost a decade, the growing passion ( or obsession, dependent upon how you look at it) came at a curious time in my life. As an owner of a business that markets primarily to homeschoolers, one might think that I would have used Facebook, Instagram, and whatever else was available to market myself as homeschool mom extraordinaire. Yet, for various reasons, including the fact that our last one at home does not particularly care to be photographed (teenagers–go figure), I deal with the hand that I have been given. I have also had health challenges which make crawling around on my hands and knees a bit harder than it once was. But by now, gardening is a labor of pure love–love for a savior who I am believing to heal me completely, love for myself and my story, and love for my family and the ministry that I execute through growing and serving healthy, nutritious food.

So at this point, I garden for the following reasons:

  • Healing our bodies
  • Controlling our food quality
  • Expanding my repertoire of cooking and eating new varieties of fruits and veggies
  • Passing on a legacy
  • Building relationships with new and old friends

 

 

Why go on (and on and on) about gardening? Because I am indeed passionate about it. And even if gardening is not your thing (gasp), you must discover, or blow the dust off of, that thing that you are passionate about as well. It does not have to be expensive, or such an overwhelming sink of time until it throws the rest of your life off track. It does not have to fit into anyone’s prescribed list of approved self-care activities. While yoga or meditation or a spa day might sound more aesthetically appealing, gardening is a therapy all its own for me. And that is the thing about your passion: it simply has to be about YOU.

So, moms, what are you doing that is something for you? Your sharing might help someone else with ideas!

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