An Easy Thing That Will Bring You BIG JOY in Mom Life

(Inside: We all want joy in mom life. To really like this one precious life that we are given. This one step is so simple and yet brings so much joy.)

I want to enjoy my life.

This one precious life that I get. 

Especially, this season of raising big kids.  

I want to watch my kids in their activities. Band. Basketball. Ultimate Frisbee. Soccer. Guitar. I want to feel how cool it is to watch someone figure out their talents. 

I want to open our home to their friends. Trip over the piles of shoes, go broke because they raid my pantry, and embrace the chaos because big kids need someplace to hang out. A safe place. And I get to be a part of that story for them. 

I want to be their inner circle. The one that walks them through the hard. The break-ups and friendship shifts. The not being chosen for the team/award/goal. The school struggles. The yuck. I want to realize how sacred it is when someone shares the hardest parts of their lives with you. 

I want to love being home. Loved ones around the table spreading butter on bread. Piled on the couch watching Maverick race through the sky. Throwing the frisbee watching our dog fire across the backyard. Getting checkmated by my chess-brained son. All of us on separate screens in the basement, doesn’t matter, just grateful that everyone’s home. 

I want to sink into parenting. Realizing imperfect is the experience as we create boundaries, check grades, listen, reflect, switch gears, hold the line, give grace, say sorry, encourage, and teach our kids how a family works together to get through life. I want to know what a gift it is to have a role in bringing up children.  

Because I know that someday, I will look back on this season and miss it. Every little amazing and messy part of it, my heart will ache to be back in this place. 

Of raising big kids. 

So, I want to enjoy my life right now. 

But. 

My mom brain. 

It races. 

It worries. 

It makes lists. 

And then makes more lists for my lists of lists. 

It objects to this goal. 

So, I write sticky notes. Tuck them into my pocket, my purse, my makeup bag, the fold of my work computer. Words to remind me to… 

Pause. 

Look. 

See. 

Hear.  

Just be. 

Soak in. 

Gain perspective. 

And when I’m reminded, I suck air deep into my lungs. Then exhale with length. Blink and look around. For just a sliver of a second, it doesn’t take more time than that. And see, hear, feel what’s right in front of me. Relax my body, unclench my racing brain, and sink into the moment. All in. Up to my ears in gratitude. 

And feel joy. 

In my one precious life. 

Because I want to enjoy my absolutely full-of-flaws and wonderful, ordinary life. 

Read more in the find joy in mom life series.

I want to enjoy my life. The imperfect, messy life that I live: I want to enjoy want’s right in front of me.  I believe that super small steps and noticing little things can bring us big joy. Read more in the find joy in mom life series.

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Your brain bounces between your day at work, what time(s) your kids need to be at practice, your teen’s missing school assignments, that you haven’t called your mom lately, the load of the laundry to be switched, “What’s for dinner?” and “Why are 3 of my brain-tabs frozen?” 

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