Motherhood. It's a hard job, isn't it? Long hours, sleepless nights,​ no going home after an exhausting day's work...
After three babies in 3 1/2 years, I was tired. Mentally, physically, emotionally.
Little by little ​I ​had put pieces of me away. After my third baby was born, I was drowning, and all I could manage to do was keep three humans alive and fed, and then collapse into bed at the end of the day. I kept boxing up my passions and the little things that defined me, because I didn't think I had time for that side of me anymore.
I woke up one day, and realized that I honestly didn't know what I liked to do in my "free time" anymore. I looked around my house for my hobbies, and they were gone. I made a decision that day to do one thing I loved doing each day. No matter how hard it was, I needed to be me again. Don't get me wrong. I love my babies with every fiber of my being. I wanted to be a mother, I had chosen this road. But I didn't realize that it was okay to keep me too. I was me before I was a mother. And just because I am a mother, doesn't mean that I cannot be me anymore.
Yes, it was going to be hard. It was going to require creative time management and maybe some later nights. But I needed to be me again. I pulled out my sewing machine and dusted it off. I found the big box of sheet music and opened up the piano that hadn't been touched in nearly two years. I found my camera, and purposed to use it more. I poured over cookbooks and sipped wine while talking to my husband about all the things I wanted to make. And please note, I didn't start making 5 course dinners. Life is full of seasons, and one day I will have a table overflowing with food again. But this is not that time for me.
But my point is... When the weight of motherhood begins pressing in on you, down let it crush you. You do you. Love on your little ones. They won't be little forever. Take time to be present and soak up every moment. But challenge yourself to not lose yourself in the mountains of laundry, the wiping of runny noses (and other things), the PB&J's, the middle of the the night fevers, and all of the other things that motherhood brings. You do you.
