How many times do we beat ourselves up everyday for things that we haven’t accomplished? I will admit I do it on a daily basis. I had one of those days recently and it made me really start to think. It was a short day at work for me so that meant that I was going to get off around noon. My husband had work off so I couldn’t wait to get home to be with him. While I was at work, I kept going through my mind everything that I was going to accomplish when I got home; get the house straightened up, cook dinner so it was ready early, get my workout in, spend time with my husband, spend time with my kids… When I got home my first priority was lunch 🙂 I was starving!!! During lunch my husband and I turned on our favorite show and watched a few episodes together, once that was over I needed to go get my mom’s tractor. Yes, we live in a small, farming community so it is totally normal to see a tractor driving down the road on any given day. We had had a huge snow storm that day so my husband had been outside all day plowing our driveway by hand so he was exhausted. I ran up to my moms house to drive the tractor down to my house so that he could save what was left of his back. Once I got the tractor home, my husband finished plowing the driveway and then I took it back up to my mom’s. By the time I finished that it was about time for my husband to go to work; He works a few nights at our local movie theater. During the week my husband isn’t home very much so every chance we get we spend time together; so I decided that the kids and I would go watch “The Black Panther” while he was working. That is a two hour long movie so by the time I got home, got the kids in bed, it was almost 10:00 PM! I still hadn’t straightened up my house, done my workout or done anything that I was planning on doing. I started to get upset with myself because I didn’t feel like I had accomplished anything at all. I started to put myself down and have negative thoughts towards myself. I kept thinking that I could do my workout really fast but no matter how much I tried to tell myself to get going, I was straight up EXHAUSTED! Usually before I go to bed, I make one more round to all the kids’ rooms to make sure that they are comfortable and asleep, as I entered my oldest daughter’s room and looked at her something hit me hard. Even though I hadn’t accomplished what I wanted to, I had done what I needed that day. I changed the way I was looking at my day and realized what I HAD accomplished: I was able to watch my favorite show with my husband for at least an hour (something we hardly get to do anymore), I was able to play 2 games with my oldest daughter while my husband was out plowing the driveway. As she put it, it was our mommy daughter time. I was able to go shopping with my husband before he had to go work, I was able to sit through a two hour movie with my oldest daughter sitting on my lap, giving me tons of cuddles and loves (something that she hardly does anymore), I was able to play with my baby and see her laugh and coo at me and finally I was able to kiss them all goodnight, tuck them in bed and cuddle each of them before they all fell asleep. I HAD accomplished a lot that day! It wasn’t what I wanted to accomplish, but it was what I NEEDED to accomplish.
Just because we don’t get our workouts in, get our houses cleaned, or get all of the errands done that we need doesn’t mean that we are terrible people. I truly believe that the things that come along during the day are what we NEED for that day. The key is to not beat ourselves up about what we didn’t accomplish. Instead we need to congratulate ourselves for what we did accomplish. No matter how much we accomplish, there will always be something else waiting for us to finish. It is important to make time for our loved ones and make time for the things that we NEED that day.
