We are all the same!

If you haven’t already, check out my last post.  I wrote about women need to be more authentic regarding the realities of being a mom.  Mom-ing is an amazing responsibility and it can be so rewarding, but it’s not easy and it is not always fun.  Just this week I contemplated running away to somewhere tropical and working at a tiki bar.  I think I would be really good at serving drinks in the sunshine for the rest of my life.  I obviously thought better of going (or maybe I just realized that my passport needed to be renewed and I was too lazy/tired to renew it – that’s all just semantics).  The point is, we all have low moments.  Really, really low moments.  My advice to you is NOT TO HIDE IN THOSE MOMENTS.  You don’t have to take to social media to tell the world your life sucks, but don’t struggle alone.  Reach out to your friends, especially the ones that are also moms.  Talk to them and let them lift you up.  These are the women that will listen to you, without judgement, and empathize.  They will support you and tell you stories about their crazy lives just to make you feel better.  They will help you manage your kids when you just need a minute.  They might even drag you out for margaritas and spend the night trying to make you laugh.  Let them.  Don’t avoid them because you don’t want them to know that you are less than perfect.  They want to know that.  They NEED to know that about you (after all they are struggling too). 

And when it’s their turn, be there for them.  No matter how crazy, awful, embarrassing, shocking the stories that they tell you are…do your best not to judge.  Remember, your kids might do the same things under the right circumstances and you are not a better parent, just a different one.  Tell them your craziest most embarrassing mom stories.  The ones that you buried deep, deep down and swore you would never admit to.  They need to hear those. They need to know that the things that they are going through are more normal than they feel.  They need to know that you “get” them because you have been there too. 

At the end of the day, most of our experiences are similar.  We all fight with our husbands because we feel like they don’t “get it”.  We all feel overwhelmed and disappointed at times. We all pee our pants (and don’t believe any woman with two or more kids that tells you otherwise).  We all wish we could lose a few pounds.  We all lose our patience and yell.  We all go a whole week without washing our hair (or maybe that’s just me…but I’ll own it).  We are all the same!

Let me just end this by saying, I empathize with you.  I get you.  I can genuinely say that I have probably been through the same stuff you are going through…even the weird sh@t.  So never feel alone because you’re not.  You got this!

Don’t forget to follow me @imbalanced1978.  My hope is to start a movement of moms who want to rebel and accept that life is completely and totally imbalanced.