Broken Crayons Still Color

I sound like a broken record. To myself and most likely to everyone else I communicate with. It's as if I am stuck in this season of life with an infant. I constantly beat myself up mentally for not being strong enough to be a good mom. I tell myself that I wanted to be a mom so I need to suck it up and move on with the hard days, the sleepless nights, the endless dishes and laundry and stop complaining about it. But the thing is, I don't HATE those things. I absolutely love being a mom and I would not change being Theo's mommy for the entire world. But ya'll, I am exhausted. I crave some sort of consistency and routine in my day to day responsibilities, and throwing in an unpredictable 7.5 month old (who is now mobile!) has been a tricky adjustment. I never know much and how well Theo is going to sleep at night. I never know where he's going to sleep at night. I don't know how clingy he's going to be and how much of my time I have to spend holding and rock...

I started this post a few weeks ago, and just couldn't figure out where to go with it. In the time between when I started it and now I have been extremely mindful of this and my wording around how I am feeling. And I can tell you that I feel exactly how I was hoping I would. It's almost a feeling of freedom. It's really amazing what a shift in thought patterns can do. It's not to say that I am not experiencing the crippling anxiety and all that goes along with that; but I feel much more confident in my ability to fight. Something that I say all of the time when referring to how anxious I am or what I'm feeling is "my anxiety is super high." I never realized I was even saying that but I've definitely been more mindful of it as of late. I noticed that when I own the anxiety as if it is part of me, it makes me feel less empowered. Less empowered to fight through it, accept the feelings that come with anxiety, and much less motivation to be so resilie...

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that I am "so calm" I think I could retire early. The truth is. I am anything BUT calm. What people perceive as calmness (in me) is really just me internalizing nearly crippling anxiety OR simply shutting out feelings. See, I feel like a broken record. Like nobody wants to listen to me because I complain about the same things over and over. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm exhausted. Blah blah blah. Part of that is me subconsciously seeking out validation for how I feel. I have this terrible habit of telling myself that the way I feel is wrong and I should be stronger and braver and MORE. More ambitious, more productive, more organized, accomplished, optimistic smarter, happier. Nobody tells me any of those things. I know its my brain lying to me, and I should tell it to shut up, but it's not always that easy. I'm worn out. And I'm doing it to myself. I second guess myself all of the time. I have gone do...