I’ll be honest, my mental health has been struggling these days with all of my “To-Dos” and all of life’s set backs.
Lately it’s been thing after thing after thing.
Am I the only one that has those days? Maybe the only one that has those weeks…
I literally feel like I’m drowning and just when I find a way to get my head above water, someone shows up and pushes me back down.
Life can be so hard!
I remember being a kid and thinking to myself, why do grown ups not have fun? What’s up with them being so serious all the time?
Now I know.
I would love more than anything to be carefree and doing whatever I want when ever I want. Not to mention eating anything I want! Oh man, if it’s one thing I miss most about being a kid, it’s eating whatever I wanted with no consequences!
I also remember wondering as a teenager why parents seem so disengaged from their kids. Go ahead and look whenever your kid says, “Look at me!”
But now I know. My kid says, “Look at me!” and my mind is trying to figure out this intricate formula of how to organize the best written piece for a client. Or I’m thinking to myself, what can I make for dinner with what little groceries we have that’s still nutritious and filling for the kids.
I literally seem to have no energy to enjoy the moment my kids say, “Look at me!” That’s sad isn’t it?
At times like these I have two options.
- Continue going down my path of despair.
- Find things to be thankful for and write them down.
It’s so easy to become absorbed with life’s setbacks. Far too easy. But it can feel like hard work to think of what’s great in my life.
I’m currently challenging myself to take the top three things in my life that are tearing me apart and speak out what the blessing is. Here we go!
- Discord in the church
Currently I am very frustrated with the church. To the point that I’m mad at God. Why does church leadership have to be so unGodly at times?
Here’s the blessing in it all.
While there are leaders of the church that have been a major disappointment to who Jesus is and His love, there are people in the church trying their best to be there for me and pick up the shattered pieces. People who are listening to my hurts. People that are trying to figure out resolutions. People that are praying for God to intervene and change things around.
I’m blessed to not be pushed aside by everyone in the church. I’m blessed to have a pastor doing his best to help and a counselor doing her best to walk me through the traumatic hurt I’ve experienced.
- Frustrations of running a business
Maturing Mama has grown and is doing so many exciting new things. But with growth comes more problem solving, more things to pay for and more conflict resolution.
Here’s the blessing in it all.
I have a very loyal staff. Infact our entire team is loyal toward one another and we’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. I mean we’re going on three years of climbing to the top. We’ve all worked more hours than the job has been able to pay for. That is real loyalty!
At times when things seem to be falling apart, I go to my team and they give me support.
Especially having the support of friends is huge! I have friends that stand by me to the point of helping me with the business for free. I can go to them and talk about how hard things are and they can give me advice, encouragement and a helping hand.
I’m not alone in this endeavor. That’s huge!
- Bills bills bills
Does anyone remember being DINKs? You know, Double Income No Kids? Those were the days!
Now that my kids are growing up, our lives are getting even more expensive. From the simplest things like turning the lights on during the day.
My toddler seriously turns the lights on through out the house during the day. Maybe she thinks it’s funny having mommy chase after her turning them all off.
Anybody else’s kids just love keeping the fridge door open??? It’s drives me nuts! And these days they also love getting into all the food without asking. Forget about mommy’s meal plan, I’ll just hide in my room eating an entire box of cereal.
One time I made a pan of brownies and left them cooling- these kids ate the whole thing after I told them to wait an hour! And we’ve had conversations time and time again about conserving and sharing food.
I guess I gotta think of what the blessing is in all of this…
Our parents still come through at times when we’re being buried by bills. It’s pretty awesome when even as an adult you can still run to mom and dad for help.
And what a blessing to have bills anyway. I remember living on an island in the Caribbean as a child and having a week go by without electricity or water in the house.
We’re so blessed to have means of paying our bills. Sure it feels like it’s eating up our money. But my business wouldn’t exist without our internet or electricity bill.
With not being able to go to the movie theater, we have the best family nights infront of the TV.
Renting our home costs most our income- but this is where our family can enjoy being a family. It’s so important for our family to have a comfortable living space.
All in all, there’s blessing in the storms. It’s been such a battle for me not dwelling on the worst parts of life right now. But I imagine when I’m old and about to say goodbye to the world, I’ll probably think to myself, I wish I didn’t worry so much when I was a young mom.
