Why do we feel like we need to be “Super Moms”? There is no such thing…yet we feel the pressure to be just that. It seems unrealistic and even unfair to try to do it all. I can’t do it all. I need to ask for help. I need to say no. I need to be realistic with what I can achieve. I need to keep it simple. I know that is what I NEED TO DO…but there is always this thought in the back of my head telling me to do more, to be more- because I need to be “Super Mom”. I am not a fan of whomever created the term or this fantasy person. All that does is make us feel like failures for not doing it all.
I am running myself to the ground trying to be this do it all mom and to be honest our kids don’t care about that. They won’t remember that we had our home spotless-clean. They won’t remember that we made home cooked meals each night. They won’t remember that their laundry was always folded. Why do we think they will? Why do we think THIS is what being a successful mom is all about? We have idolized this idea of a mom can do it all and do it all with flying colors- but that is not truth. It is not the reality. If our piles of laundry don’t get folded and put away the same day it is okay, if the toys don’t get picked up all day that is okay too.
The truth is my life goes a little like this: take on too much because I need to “do it all” and then break down because I can’t “do it all”. Why push myself that far? Because someone somewhere once said we had to do it all. Well after a night of lots and lots of crying to my husband about how I feel I now know I need to CUT IT OUT! I need to say no. I need to take it slow. I need to realize that there is no such thing as being able to do it all. Some weeks we might live out of laundry baskets, the toys will be everywhere, I will live in buns and sweat pants with no make up on, we will have more frozen meals than home cooked ones…AND THAT IS OKAY.
This is my season to slow down, something I have never been good at but need to learn to do for my mental health & in return the upbringing of my kids. I need to learn it is okay to say no to events or favors. Maybe this is not not my season to be overworking myself. This is the season to slow down. For me it’s the season to really think about what I am doing and myself and who I am and who I want to be on and off social media.
Do we want to be the people who succeed and put all this time and effort into our everything else around us but at the expense of our kids? Or do we want to be the people who slow it down and take it all in, the ones who maybe our social depictions becomes more raw and cell phone photos take up most of our social media feeds but are happy and less stressed?
Our kids will remember that we cuddled with them. That we played with them. That we laughed with them. They will remember that you made forts with them and let them explore and adventure. They will remember they felt loved and safe always, because after all…that is what being a “Super Mom” should be about. Being a “Super Mom” should not mean you can do it all, it should mean you did what was important.
