This year, this pregnancy, this infanthood, however I want to put it. I chose to focus more on myself. And my immediate family.
I wanted to find happiness in what I had, less thought on what others thought of me or my parenting, or my kids. I wanted to work to find this calm before the 2nd kid arrived, because I wanted to feel confident in my life & abilities before I had another one come and more opinions thrown my way. I wanted to prevent postpartum anxiety & depression. Knowing I couldn't completely prevent it, but to do my best to help myself.
To get here, I needed to be able to self reflect. Be able to admit when I was overwhelmed or attempting to do too much. Accepting that I can't do everything and that I can't please everyone. Accept that some people will do things differently than you and give you unsolicited advice. Learning how to manage that and being able to shrug it off is key.
I attempted to 'clean' my social media. I cut back on who I am connected to, I don't need to see everything everyone is doing, if it's someone I interact with more closely, I kept them. If not, I removed them. I don't need to see what they're constantly doing & thinking what I am doing is inadequate.
I needed to embrace myself, both a person & a mother, self doubt can be a rough place to be, but I needed to feel confident that I was doing what is right for myself and family. So sometimes that's doing what others are doing while other times it's not. Sometimes I just have to say 'no' to something and give myself time alone or just with my immediate family. This means, days on the weekends where we just play all day, leaving all the chores for another day. Or taking a day off just for myself or spend a random day with my kids. Who cares, it can be completely unplanned & fun!
I'm choosing to focus on me & my life and to have less concern on what others think or do. And it's awesome!
