So I’ve seen this picture many times on the internet.

 

It’s funny and so true.  I’ve had Doctors say this to me THREE different times!!!!  I had all kinds of tests done & the final diagnosis was that I am a Mom of two really active young boys that wake up at 5 am every morning…

So how do I survive?  The last Doctor finally suggested 2 things: “get a clock for the kids and teach them they cannot wake you up before 6am & work out more, a lot more.”  In other words take better care of yourself.

The clock helped a whole lot.  Work out more?  Now that requires a whole new level of effort.  However I kept getting the same message: take better care of yourself.  I heard the analogy of the air mask on the plane.  In an emergency a parent traveling must put their mask on first then the child’s mask.  A mom must take care of herself to be able to take care of her children.  It is so easy to get caught up in taking care of everyone & everything else that moms put themselves last on the list.  Showers, too tired.  Manicures, take took long.  Haircuts, it can grow a little longer.  Working out, I have to figure out childcare, it’s too expensive.  The list goes on & on.

It is so easy to lose one’s identity in mommyhood.  I recently heard someone say “when I get mean & easily frustrated I know I am functioning from a place of strain rather than a place of strength.  I need to get alone and pray and ask God to help me!” A mom’s prayer is after all: “HELP!!!”

I am still on this journey of taking care of myself & my family.  Although it was not over night, I did eventually become a Zumba instructor.  So now I get paid to work out and most gyms provide childcare.  I think the best benefit of working out are the happy endorphins.  As Elle says in Legally blonde “aerobics give you endorphins, endorphins make you happy & happy people don’t kill their husbands!  They just don’t.”

Whatever your choice of revitalization whether it’s athletic, artistic or anything else be sure to recharge yourself with your passions.  Also be sure to find time to meditate and pray & recharge yourself spiritually that you may function from a place a strength!  Isaiah 40:29 tells us that God “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

Here I am about to teach a Zumba class

Be Strong Beautiful Mothers!!!

Love,

Rosa