New Normal

After returning to work from March break, I had a conversation with a friend saying how much I would have loved to be a stay at home mom. It was something I had to grieve and work through following both maternity leaves, and it is always a little sting when I return to work following vacation time (which I am SO grateful for). I don’t romanticize the role of a stay at home mom as I am fully aware of the challenges and fatigue that come along with the title. I know how long the days can feel and how mentally exhausted you can be by the end of them. I know that it’s often a thankless gig because it’s just expected that “good moms take good care of their children.” I know it requires a lot of self-motivation and self-discipline to plan purposefully your days and to be intentional in your parenting. I also know it can feel lonely and overwhelming.

With the pandemic in place, it appears as though I have been given the opportunity to be a stay at home mom for a little while longer than just summer breaks and holidays. In the face of not so great circumstances, I am choosing to look at this as a blessing. I’m choosing to look at this new role with an honest lens, recognizing how HARD it is, but thanking God for it anyway. I am choosing to lean into my faith for grace when I lose my patience, and to lean into my fellow moms for mental sanity on the rough days. I am choosing to refrain from the comparison game on social media in which I investigate how much better others are at parenting. I’m choosing to enjoy my children. I am choosing JOY—remembering that joy doesn’t always mean I will be happy, but it means I will be grateful.

What are you choosing? What will you do with your current situation, however that looks? Praying God’s presence in your home would flood you with peace and a calm in the chaos.