Finding Joy in Motherhood

It has always been my dream to be a stay at home mom and from the day my first was born I was blessed enough to do just that.

I’ve now been a stay at home mom for just over two years and I love it! People always say being a parent is the hardest and most rewarding thing you will ever do and they’re absolutely right.

What I’ve never heard anyone admit to (and I know I can’t be the only one) is that it can also be the most mundane, nothing to look forward to on a day to day basis, thankless thing you will ever do.

It gets hard to look forward to each new day when every day feels just like the last, minus a blow out or two.

And it’s hard!

It’s really hard to feel enthusiastic and excited about the next twenty years when you already know exactly what they look like: feed, clean, feed, clean, bathe, feed, clean, put in bed, put back in bed, put back in bed, put back in bed. . .

I’ve only been doing this for two years and there are a lot of days I feel burnt out by 10 am and am literally counting down the hours till nap time, today being one of them.

It’s incredibly discouraging!

I want SO badly to love every second of being a stay at home mom, heck even every other second would be great! But I don’t.

Well, as I’m sure you can imagine, I found myself not feeling super fulfilled with mom life.

Anyone else been here?

I felt like what I was doing wasn’t enough. I wasn’t contributing enough to society, I wasn’t contributing enough to my family.

Yes, the laundry was getting done and the fridge was stocked with food but there was more I could be giving!

But what??

There had to be more. Please oh please, there had to be more.

I started exploring the other hobbies I could try out on the side, and heck, extra bonus if I could even make a little money doing it. All from home of course, because I didn’t want it to take away from my time as a stay at home mom. . .Logic my friends!

Let’s see. . I could do photography. . .except I’m terrible at it. What about crafting? I enjoy that. A distributor of sorts, maybe?

So, I started on this journey. Let’s call it my “I’m a stay at home mom and a _________” journey.

My new goal was to fill in that blank!

This journey took place over a period of about six months and it was incredibly discouraging. I was so sure there was something else I was supposed to be doing to contribute to the world but I couldn’t find my niche. Nothing was coming.

After months of searching, pondering and praying I was given my answer through two incredibly simple questions:

Why do I feel like I’m not enough as “just” a stay at home mom?

Why does there have to be more?

These questions made me, for the first time in months, turn my intense search from looking for something bigger and better out there to looking for something bigger and better in myself.

I hadn’t even realized it but these little minions, these negative voices in my head had me convinced that being a stay at home mom wasn’t good enough. The adversary had me convinced that motherhood wasn’t worthy of me.

That motherhood wasn’t worth dumping all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my efforts into. I have been taught and I honestly and truly believe that the work you do within the walls of your own home is the most important work you will ever do.

I know this, I’ve always known this. It’s just so freaking hard to remember when you’re picking squished grapes out of your carpet for the third time that day and watching Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas for the 20th time.

Literally.

So, even after having this wonderful ah ha moment, there still begged the question: how do I find love being a mother as much as I want to then? How do I find more joy in motherhood?

I want to wake up excited about each new day even if it is does look exactly the same as yesterday and the next 7,300 days.

I want to love everyone of them.

So my new journey began, my journey to find as much joy in motherhood as I could. I’ve learned a lot already and I want to share with you what I’m learning as I’m learning it. The simple changes I’ve made in just the last few months have made a huge difference already and I’m excited to share with you and I hope they can help you as much as they’ve helped me. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my next post, Ordinary Does Not Equal Meaningless! Love you all and here’s to empowering mothers everywhere!!

Much Love,

Robyn