Good morning friends! It’s early Saturday morning and my plan was to sleep in…but for some reason my eyes opened at 6:00 am and all I could think of was…what can I do for you today…what can we do here to make your life as a parent easier?

I wanted to share a bit of perspective with you and tell you a story about my week…and my hope is that someday you feel comfortable sharing with us…because I know this group is loving and supportive and a safe, non-judgy place to connect…and it always makes me feel better to share.

At the beginning of the week I felt defeated…and I think as parents we all feel like we are not doing enough, we are not working enough, we are not spending time with our family enough, we are not smart enough, strong enough, tall enough, short enough…or whatever. I was thinking about how I could do a better job with my work, I could connect more with my family, I could have more patience and send more love to my husband, I could take care of my health and get outside more.

Here is what was going on with my family…my oldest daughter was learning a new job and feeling unsure, my 16-year old daughter had exams and was feeling anxious, my 12 year-olds were dealing with bullying issues at school, my husband was working hard to find us a car that will fit our whole family, and I was answering calls from school every day about all the issues with the boys…and I really felt like I couldn’t take one more thing piled on top of an already busy life.

It wasn’t until around Thursday that I started to change the way I thought about all this…just training my brain to not absorb the pressures, but to welcome them and deal with them and find solutions…and…think about how everyone else was doing…oh…and I prayed…a lot…

I stopped and thought about how everyone else in my family must be feeling…instead of how much pressure I was feeling…because they had really tough weeks too…and ultimately, they are the most important people in my life…and if they are feeling stressed and anxious, we all are! Once I did this I felt like I could take on whatever came my way…and this change in perspective changed everything…I focused on them…and by the end of the week my daughters asked to hang out with me just talking and laughing, the boys learned new strategies to work through issues at school and all the extra time we got to spend together helped strengthen our bond, my hubby found the perfect vehicle and raced to get up to make me coffee this morning because he knows I love that, and I…feel at peace knowing that I am enough…I have created a life that I love…I am learning each day how to love on my kids more, on my husband more, and on myself more.

Perspective. My thoughts are with each and every one of you this weekend as you do one of the most important jobs in the world…love on your family. And I want you to know that you are enough…of everything to everyone!

And if you ever feel defeated, unloved, unsure…like you are not enough…please come on back here and let me remind you just how incredible you are!