Day one: Be Purposeful #byuBEYOU

Grace challenged me to start this "Be You" challenge with her and I thought it would be a perfect time to get a jumpstart on my blogging...again.  haha.  I could go on about how bad I've been at blogging since...well..always, but instead of that, lets just jump right in.  this challenge is about overcoming perfectionism and finding self-worth in my own happiness after all, and listing the reasons I've failed at consistently blogging doesn't seem like the best place to start.

My goal for these next 10 days will be this: to find something thing each day that makes me truly happy, BUT it has to be something simple.  Too often I find myself saying "well, today I feel good about myself because I checked off 4 things from my to-do list" or whatever.  My days as a mom are often defined as good or bad based on how productive I am able to be, despite whatever I'm doing that day.  But for these next 10 days I will find success and happiness and satisfaction in my day with something small and joyful.  I will describe this "joyful moment" each day and hopefully start a habit of finding joy in motherhood and in the sometimes monotonous days I live.  I think this is an important skill for me to develop because it's definitely something that has been the biggest change in my pre-mom to post-mom life.  I'm a HUGE to-do list person, and I really struggle to feel happy with myself unless I get big things done each day, which really isn't always possible now.  To be honest, some days if I have the energy and time to take a shower, get dressed, and make dinner then that's a BIG thing.  I want to shift my focus to being okay and happy with little successes.  Also, to appreciate my time spent with Ivy--playing, teaching, learning, cleaning up, feeding, etc.  Those are now MY big things.  That is where I want to find my joy and success.  And I know it's there--it will just take me some time to figure out how to find it more easily.

Today's joyful mommy moment:
I found so much joy in watching Ivy eat this evening.  We took her to a WAMII dinner tonight and the only way we could keep her quiet during the speakers was to give her little bites of fruit the whole time.  She would get really excited as the fork-speared-fruit approached--she stood on her tippy toes in the high chair and leaned as far as she could to get the food even faster.  it was just darling.  As this was going on, I reflected on how this could potentially be a crazy stressful night.  In fact, even just a few months ago, it would have been.  I'm slooooooowly figuring out how to let Ivy be messy, how to roll with the punches, and how to not stress the little things. well, okay. like...reeeealllyyy slowly--its not every day that I feel like I have a grasp on it yet.  So, yay.  Joy that tonight wasn't stressful.  Joy that today I was okay with her being noisy in public.  Joy that Ivy ate her fruit bites with vigor and I could revel in her love of life and food and applause and watching people around her.  Joy that I get to watch her love things.  And that I get to love her.