It is a wild and crazy day here ladies and gents. I have got my dd off to school and while I was trying to complete my morning routine of catching up on my blogs I realized...I don't have time for that! I have to get down to the city today to fill out my registration for dental assisting, my trainee paperwork for my new job, and have a drug test. Before I leave I need to finish cleaning up the kitchen, get my dd's dance bag packed and ready to go on the table (in case grandma has to take her), take a shower, and pick up the living room. And in order to do all of that, I need to get a move on.
But I still decided I could take a few minutes and blog. Why? Because I have something on my mind.
As I read these blogs, the few that I got in today and the others that I've read regularly, I have been asked one question. Why is it that we think that we have to be superwoman?
We want to be stellar employees (if we work outside the home), excellent wives, over achieving mothers, above reproach as a housewife, there for our friends, and, more and more, be able to reach out across the cyber universe to make friends that we may never meet face to face but offer them the same hope and encouragement that we do our face time friends. Why? Because we are women, hear us roar. So many of those can be narrowed into three catagories.
1. Setting high, but achievable, goals for ourselves inside and outside the home. To quote the army national guard, we want to be all that we can be.
2. We want our family to be happy, healthy and well cared for. This means so much more than does my child have the latest toy fad. In fact, sometimes it means NOT getting your child that latest toy fad. Now I'll admit my daughter has a zhu zhu pet. But she has 1. No accessories. A single zhu zhu pet. She also has silly bands (they're cheap enough and she wears them), a leapster 2 and a vreader (both bought by her godfather with limited amount of game time from me). But she has also learned that her crayons and some blank paper is a great way to spend her time. In fact she spends a lot of her time using that creative outlet.
3. We want to be the friend we want to have. Who wants a friend that, when you need her, she is NEVER available. That's not who I want. And that's not who I want to be. I was raised by the golden rule, and so I treat others how I want to be treated, even if that means taking 10 minutes out of my day to listen to a friend rant about how she is driving 90 minutes one way to pick up a duck (her son had a pet duck who died inexplicably) and how much easier it would be if her husband wasn't working 2nd shift. Or taking 20 minutes out of my day to help a friend look for some job listings because she is getting worried about not finding a job. Could I spend that time cleaning, organizing, cooking, baking, or playing with my child? Yes. BUT when it's me looking for someone to listen when my mom shoots yet another idea of mine out of the water for my wedding or about the dog that won't stay in the yard, will they be there for me? Pretty sure they wouldn't be for long if I wasn't there for thme.
The biggest part of all of this is being realistic. I have a friend who has 3 small children, ages 5, 3, and 2. She is potty training the youngest. The oldest is in Kindergarten, the middle started a 3 year old preschool program. The two older ones are in dance. She knits. She tries to keep her house running without any high fructose corn syrup. She sews. She wants her house to stay neat and clean. She wants to raise moral, kind children. But she knows that sometimes some of these have to be allowed to slide. She may have to buy bread through the summer when she is busy in the garden. She may have to buy prepared foods when she is sick. She may have to focus more on the knitting and sewing around Christmas and then take a break to get her house back in order. She is realistic in the fact that she knows she can't do it all all of the time. Life happens.
So when I get asked why do we think we have to be superwoman it's easy. Because inside every woman is a superhero. Why not make the most of that potential.
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