Dear Moms Everywhere,
You are the true champions.
Last night, after I tucked in my children and while my husband laid in bed, I stood in the mirror and as I wiped the mascara from my face, I saw the smile lines beginning to form in the corners of my eyes. I looked tired. I flipped my shirt over my head to change my clothes, simply observing my loose belly and my stretch marks – they don’t bother me much but that doesn’t mean I don’t see them. I brushed my teeth. I’ve been grinding again – a signal of stress. The house was quiet as I tiptoed back into my children’s room and said a quiet prayer over them. As I made my way back into the bathroom for my last tinkle of the night (because moms rarely gain their bladder capacity back), I took another glance at myself in the mirror.
And I felt pride.
I thought about the day and all of my days. I thought about how this household functions on my well being. We, as moms, and as women, do SO much on a day to day basis and most of it goes unseen or unnoticed. We are the keeper of things.
We are the orchestrator of everything that goes on in the day to day including but not limited to the:
wake up calling,
breakfast making,
lunch packing,
permission slip signing,
extracurricular driving,
boo boo fixing,
elf moving,
dinner prepping,
book reading,
bed tucking,
food shopping,
list making,
diaper changing,
potty training,
toilet cleaning,
floor sweeping,
dish washing,
laundry folding,
fight breaking,
party planning,
cheerleading,
monster scaring,
snuggle giving,
wardrobe styling
and mama bear protecting.
That’s just the short list. We do it all. And we do it with grace, often without a complaint, and with love. The truth is, we don’t know what we would do or who we would be without these blessings of responsibility. In the midst of it, we still want to run amazing businesses, become entrepreneurs, workout every day, eat clean and prepped meals, and if we’re lucky, get some mascara on for the day.
We feel every feeling in the process, too. So many of us do all of this while dealing with anxiety, depression, feelings of being less than enough. We’re empathetic too so we feel for everyone around us. We cry for the mom who can’t afford milk this week, our hearts break for children suffering around the world, we feel all the feels all of the time. So many of you are taking care of sick loved ones, loved ones with disabilities that make the day to day even more challenging, dealing with heartbreak, loss, and more.
Yet we show up for this role. Day in and day out. Day in and day out. Day in and day out.
WE…. are superheroes.
And you know what too many of us superheros do when we get into that mirror at the end of the day?
We pick ourselves apart.
We choose negative words.
We push and pull on the very stomach that super-humanly gave birth to these people we take care of.
We critique the laugh lines that we built making memories.
We get down on ourselves for not working out harder or eating better.
We look this superhero that I just described above in the eye and we have the audacity to put her down.
HELLO!?
Well, not anymore. Not today, not you, not me, not any of us. We are the force that makes the world go around every day. We are the glue to our families. We make it all come together and we will start treating ourselves like the superheroes that we are. We will look ourselves in the eye at the end of the day as we wipe the mascara and say “Go ahead, girl….. you did that!” And even if nobody else notices, I do.
Today, I challenge you: Choose grace, choose kindness in your words, choose love. Treat yourself like the amazing human being that you are. And choose this attitude every day going forward. YOU, are incredible. Just the way you are.
Happy Mother’s Day from one superhero mom to another!
