2019 brought the greatest gift to my husband and I, my daughter Kennedi. Now that she's 11 months old I can reflect back over the last year and confidently say that this journey of motherhood has taught me so much.
Pay attention and care about the world around me. I've never been one to really care deeply about politics, laws, etc. But now that I'm a mom I've realized that I have to be intentional about the world I leave to my daughter. Can I control everything? Of course, not. But it's up to me to care about the things that we take for granted everyday. The climate crisis, women's rights and minority rights are just a few things that I've started to pay close attention to. And I've also been reminded that we're all striving for the same thing. Regardless of race, socioeconomic background or education we just want to live a good life and pass a little wisdom, a few dollars, and a legacy for our children to be proud of. No matter which end of the political spectrum you fall on, these things among others makes us more alike than we are different.
Be ok with small wins. Not to say that I was a perfectionist before my daughter was born...but let's just say I'm the type of girl that if I could mop the ceiling I would. Now! I've had to learn that it's ok to achieve smaller goals more often and then step back from those goals and realize that I'm still amazing! Simple things like picking everything up off of the floor and vacuuming is all I can get done. And honestly just seeing the vacuum lines makes me happy. Or putting all of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher just to clear the counters..makes ME happy. lol These days I don't get as many things done in a day that I'd like to but they are done...at unconventional times of day, in a different order than I prefer, and sometimes in little chunks. But hey! It's done and that's what really matters.
Don't be so hard on myself. Ok this one is pretty loaded. Because it's still a struggle. But everyday I make a conscious decision to give myself the opportunity to give myself grace to evolve, make mistakes, and learn from them. Before my daughter was born I would spend countless time focusing on what I haven't achieved or what I should've done by this point in my life. Now I've come to grips with the fact that the bad decisions I've made or a particular set of circumstances I was given doesn't have to define my future.
Motherhood has taught me to play. Yes I said it, play. And I mean this literally. With my daughter being an infant she's discovering the world around her and she's so excited about the simplest things. She giggles at herself and I giggle with her. I'm forced to get on the floor and play and show my daughter how to live in the moment. In turn she's teaching me the same thing.