it is important to think about this holistically. it isn't selfish to consider the needs of the mother (&/or father!) when raising crazy little people, no matter how much the martyr syndrom nags you otherwise. if the mother isn't healthy & happy, how can she fully attend to the needs of her children, let alone create an environment where the family can flourish? so! it is critical that the mother set aside time to replenish and address her core needs, which will be different for everyone (and i now know mine to be creating).
point understood! but, but, but... how? time is booked solid. argh! my naturopath told me of a study undertaken in a few communities on the other side of the globe where people experience far less stress-related diseases. conclusion: they live in extended family units, eat from the land, and spend their evenings sitting around the table eating wonderful meals, drinking wine and yacking until the sun sets (my words, but same content!). and i imagine that the task of raising kids is undertaken by all involved, too. sigh... the way we do things over here is so wrong! i don't know about you, but i feel the pressure to be strong, independent, need-no-help-from-nobody, raise kids, work job, stay in perfect health, and not screw my kids along the way?! it's ridiculous... and frankly i'm falling apart trying to manage it all.
solutions? i definitely want to change the way i live - i want to be in community, i want to eat food i grow, enjoy life at a slower pace, live with less, take deep breaths & be "in the moment". but while i work towards those ideals, i have to look for outlets in the hurricane of present day. these are a few things i'm going to implement:
1. teach my kids how to play by themselves for an hour each day.
isla helping me felt |
2. get my girls to participate in my projects.
this is more of an investment plan... i know they already love to "help", but i always end up turning into a dragon protecting my gold, puffing smoke outta my nostrils. but this is because my intentions are wrong, my intention is to actually get something done :) what i plan on doing is changing my perspective to focus on them and not the project, so that they adopt the love of craft time and then, eventually, we can create together or work on our own projects together (for more then 5 seconds i mean :).
3. take the work out of creating.
juniper just having fun... there is so much for her to teach me |
what is your core passion? what do you do to feed it during busy times when it can get neglected?
No comments:
Post a Comment