I’ve always been really annoyed by people who talked about being sick as if it were a time of snuggle fests and endless Netflix marathons, almost like a relaxing and rejuvenating vacation.
What the heck? I would think to myself angrily when I scrolled through IG pictures of moms cuddling with feverish children. Aren’t these people’s kids sick with the pukes and the poops and miserable and cranky and if they have to hear one more episode of Wild Kratts they will lose their minds?
Needless to say, we’ve been stuck in the feverish hell of sick children and by “we”, of course I mean, “me,” because when my husband got sick, he of course, was able to actually call in sick to his job but when I got sick I had to somehow keep myself alive until he at long last walked in the door and I threw a baby at him and locked myself in the bathroom to vomit out the content’s of a week’s worth of meals.
Too much?
Sorry.
But yeah. So we’ve been sick. And I’ve been sick. And so, so tired.
Miserable.
I’ve been feeling pretty discouraged with myself as a mom lately–you know the drill, too much on my plate, running the rat race of writing a million articles and selling out our lives for the sake of cold, hard cash. Oh, wait, what’s that you say? Not everyone makes a living writing about their kids online?
Oh. Right.
But really. I love what I do, for the most part, but getting it done with four kids and not a lot of help is a huge, huge challenge for me. And most days I feel like I am literally sprinting through the day and overall, exhausted, stressed, and honestly, kind of cranky.
And in getting sick and being forced to actually do nothing, absolutely nothing but hold my kids and play with them and totally focus on them, I was reminded why I set off to be a stay-at-home mom in the first place.
And I realized that the problem all along was pretty simple–
I had lost sight of my priorities. I had been so focused on making sure work and my writing and my job got done that it was my #1 goal every day.
I’m not saying that it’s not OK to love what you do and my work is important to me and our family’s financial status, but it was really eye-opening to me to be forced to land smack dab on my butt and take a real look around at what kind of life I was living as a mom.
I needed to go back to making my day about my kids and not the other way around.
It’s crazy, but for the first time in my life, I am glad that we all got sick and dare I even say it? But I kind of even feel refreshed from it, like I’ve gone through a slower pace of life that is destined to stick with me now.
But that could just be the dehydration talking.
And I know that I haven’t blogged in forever but I hate bloggers who point that out because it’s not like I think any readers are out there hitting “refresh” and pining my loss out there in the Interwebz, but I admit that I really miss comments–is anyone out there these days? Anyone at all?
If you’re so inclined, here a few articles that I’ve written that could use a little link love, if you feel like clicking. Have a hydrated weekend, folks.
I related to this so much. I felt the same way at one point, my priorities were off. I had become so fixated on what I was doing and trying to stay afloat while doing it that I forgot my why — my reason which was my family. From time to time I still stop and remind myself to remember my why. I’m glad something beautiful came out of what initially felt like an icky time.
Someone is out there! I’m glad it’s you! 🙂
I always read but never comment, I should though because you make the effort to write, the least I can do is comment to let you know I love reading your blog! 🙂 and I’m sure lots of people noticed you hadn’t blogged since feb, I check in every week and when I notice a blogger silence for a while I take a moment to hope they are doing ok
I can totally relate to this feeling though, sometimes when one of my children says they don’t feel well or I feel a cold coming on (although I would never wish for illness for myself or any of my family) I do feel a bit of relief that I can drop everything and spend time at home tending to our health. I think I have a slight change in priorities after every stomach bug, cold etc that goes through our house and it’s slowly make a big change
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! It is true–relief for Netflix, hurray! 🙂