5 Reasons I am writing to Stressed-Out Mommas
The warm sun beaming through the window woke me from a beautiful dream. I only had a few items on my list for the day. There was hitting the gym, picking up a few items at the organic grocery store and having lunch with a friend.
That, by the way, happened fourteen years ago. That has not been my life for a very long time. Not since I became a momma and my life turned into one stress-filled day after another.
I started this blog for stressed-out Mommas, and I wanted to let you know my reasons.
I am a Stressed-Out Momma
It was never my intention to become a stressed-out momma. I don’t think anyone really does, though, do they?
From the very beginning of motherhood, it starts. The waking up every two hours for feedings. You have diaper changes constantly.
You sleep when you can, but it isn’t quality sleep. It’s just barely enough rest to leave you groggy. You turn into a zombie of sorts, feeling half dead most of the time.
Life doesn’t change much as they get older, either. Sure, you don’t have diapers and bottles everywhere. Your schedule can get looser and as a family, you can become more spontaneous.
Picnics can happen at the drop of a hat if the day is nice and there is no planning involved to take a three-mile bike hike through the woods.
But now, I get woken up at 2 AM by my teenager going through the fridge for a snack or my eight-year-old getting a drink of water (she always needs ice). Life is still happening and just because they get older, that doesn’t mean being a momma is any less stressful. So, yes, I am still a stressed-out momma.
I was raised by a Stressed-Out Momma
My momma did the absolute best that she could. I want to make that clear right up front.
She was a single mother of three children (I’m the oldest) and she had to work full-time just to keep us fed and a roof over our heads. But mommas do what they have to for their kiddos, right?
My momma would get out of work at five, drive a half-an-hour to pick us up at our babysitter’s house, and would be lucky if we all made it home by six.
Then there was dinner to cook and homework to check (if we actually did it at the babysitter’s instead of playing), cleaning up and off to bed for us. Mom always had more to do before she could get to bed. Then up at six the next day to start it all over again.Weekends were for catching up on housework and errands.
Our lives never slowed down. Especially as we got older. Sure, we could help out more around the house, but we also got into sports and clubs. That meant that weeknights were now filled with practices and meetings to shuffle the three of us between.
Somehow, she made it all work, Somehow, we all survived. You can’t blame her at all for being a stressed-out momma, though.
I don’t want to pass on a Stressed-Out legacy to my children
If you have read the “About Me” page then you know my children are homeschooled. I am their teacher, but I do depend on the curriculum quite a bit. Especially my son who does all of his school work online (my daughter will be doing that next year).
Of course, all parents, homeschoolers or not are responsible for the legacy they hand down to their children. What morals and values their children leave the home with someday are passed down from the parents.
As parents, my husband and I are trying to teach discipline and responsibility, a good work ethic and to live according to God’s Word. But what are they picking up that we are not intentionally trying to teach them?
I’m sure you have heard that children are sponges. They soak up everything that happens around them. So, when their momma just happens to be a stressed-out momma, they are picking up on that in whatever way it manifests.
That can be a really scary truth, can’t it? That our children not only know that we are stressed-out mommas, but that they could become stressed-out, as well. No one wants to pass on a life of stress and chaos. This needs to stop this now so I can find a way to be a calm momma and I can have calm and happy kiddos.
I want to help other Stressed-Out Mommas
I’ve been told that I have a gift for teaching. It is probably true. It is the one thing I have done the most of in my life.
- I’ve been a Sunday School Teacher
- A camp counselor
- Teacher in the nursery at my church (infants and two-year-olds)
- I’m a homeschool mom, teaching my two children since my eighth grader was in preschool
- I taught some classes for three years in the homeschool program at my church
So, I guess it just comes naturally to me to want to teach others what I know and what I learn.
I wanted this blog to be a journey of my path to discovering how to be a calm and happy momma so that I can create a calm and happy home for my family. But I can’t just share a journey I am taking without trying to help out all of you stressed-out mommas reading my posts.
I want to inspire other mommas to come alongside me and experience life — the good and the bad — as this journey unfolds. Maybe I can teach a stressed-out momma not to be so stressed-out anymore. That would be a wonderful thing and make all of the time and effort put into this blog well worth it.
It is easier to build community with people like you.
I have a confession to make. I am absolutely horrible at small talk. Throw in a bunch of people that I know I have nothing in common with and I am at a complete loss for words.
I try. I actually try really hard, but I’m just not that person.
That’s why I needed a blogging niche built for people that I could relate to. I got some advice recently from a webinar that basically told me to think about who I am and try to come up with a target audience based on that.
Who am I?
- stay-at-home-momma
- homeschooling momma
- writer
- dance momma
- church momma
- Air Force Vet
The one thing that kept creeping into my head as I was thinking through this list? I am so stressed-out. That was when I knew that my biggest struggle had to be a struggle of others like me.
Every momma has one thing in common, stress. On some level, there is always a little bit of it, but I have been meeting so many moms lately that are overwhelmed, stressed-out mommas. So, I knew that was who I had to help because I desperately need that help myself.