I have always imagined myself in life like a juggler. I imagine all these balls in the air: “KIDS,” “JOB,” “PARTNER,” “HOUSEWORK,” “SELF-CARE,” “WHATEVER NEW THING.” These balls are all up in the air and it is important you do not drop any. Spoiler alert! You WILL drop a ball.
You Got This
Have you ever felt like “I finally got this!”? I had that feeling. All my balls were gracefully flying in the air and I was catching them all. I was balancing kids, work, relationships, bills, and then… my washing machine breaks. I remember just staring at it. Hoping it would miraculously turn on. I did not have the money to invest in a new washing machine. I had a large pile of laundry to get done. All I could think was, “Why? Why can’t things just go according to plan?”
As I stood there, filled with false hope while blankly staring at my broken washing machine, I had to laugh. What plan was I referring to? Whose plan? Mine? Were things just supposed to always line up perfectly because I said so?
Controlling What You Can Control
No matter how hard you try, some things will be out of your control. Life is constantly throwing curve balls at us. We can do our best at work and, maybe, a budget cut means we get cut. We can fight for a relationship and still have it fail. Clean the whole house only to have a toddler smash crackers in every room or have a pricey appliance break as soon as we have paid off that last bill. None of these things are things that we can control (unless of course you never buy crackers and lock your toddler in a playpen–which I am sure he will find a way out of).
Do you know what you can control? The way you react to life’s situations. We can choose to crumble and ask, “Why me? Why now?” or we can find a solution. When we realize that everything has a solution, our perspective shifts. “Problem Solver” becomes one of the balls we learn to juggle. We can learn to laugh at life’s speedbumps, like a rollercoaster that we were scared to ride but we end up really proud of ourselves as it pulls in at the end.
Moral of the Story: We will never have it all figured out and, when we think we do, the washing machine will break. Be aware of everything you are succeeding at, acknowledge what you need to work on so you can keep growing, and know that, inevitably you will drop a ball. The good thing is, us moms, are really good at picking things up.
