Happy Mother’s Day to every person doing the work of a mother.
Like me, you’re probably feeling pretty darn good with the showering of good wishes and maybe gifts of thanks from the kids, the grands, the fur kids, and anyone else you act as a mom to. And you may be feeling like that makes all your hard work worthwhile.
From where I sit, it doesn’t.
Not that it’s a terrible thing to be acknowledged and recognized for the roles we play is support of others. And if we take that acknowledgment as a simple expression of appreciation, that’s lovely.
But it can also feel like a reward for working our butts off and ignoring our own needs to be able to do that, reinforcing in us that our needs don’t matter as much as someone else’s. I’ve been there. Have you?
All that does is keep us thinking that in order to be appreciated and even loved, we need to keep up the pace, like caged hamsters on a wheel. And it’s not the first time you have heard me say that many of us will do just that, to our own detriment.
How about we start with caring for ourselves first? It’s ok to recognize and give only to the extent that we healthily can without feeling guilty or selfish.
How about we look at what we need to stay strong and healthy in body, spirit and mind, and do those things, creating enough strength and goodness in ourselves to have an overflow of energy?
Only then are we nourished enough to offer the support we really want to, to our loved ones and beyond. It’s us fulfilling the natural nurturer role as we are called to.
Maybe that can be our reward today.
So by all means, put your feet up and let them spoil you. You deserve to be treated with appreciation and love.
But while you’re there, decide exactly what your overflow will look like.
Dianna xo
