It’s So Easy To Lose Yourself In Motherhood

Earlier today I shared this post on the Not Your Average Mom Facebook page:

It was a pretty popular post with lots of women really relating to it.

I can definitely relate to it.

It’s really easy to lose yourself in motherhood.

Combine the needs of your kids with the need to work and make money and take care of yourself, and you find yourself letting those hobbies fall by the wayside until you end up at a point where you literally don’t remember what it was like when you took the time to do things you enjoyed simply for the sake of doing stuff that makes you happy.

Here is another thing I think many of us struggle with.

When I was a newer mom, I was so unsure of myself, so insecure, and struggled so badly with comparisonitis that any time another mom did something super crafty and impressive, I would attack.

Bento box lunches and leprechaun traps and Elf on the Shelf and anything that required creativity or brainpower were, to me, just people trying to impress other people and being super….

extra.

It never occurred to me that anyone would do these things simple because they enjoyed them. To me, the moms who did these things were doing them to impress other people and not for enjoyment.

In hindsight I can see why I said what I said.

I was not confident and I was insecure and I was threatened by other moms doing stuff that I couldn’t do or didn’t want to do or didn’t like doing.

I had a really hard time comprehending that we all have our own strengths and likes and talents.

I do think there are some people who do things not because they enjoy them but because they are trying to keep up with the Joneses.

I used to be one of those people. I felt compelled to do things in an effort to prove that I was as talented/creative/whatever as other people.

Aaaaahhh. How nice it is to be fifty years old and to have come to my senses.

I’ve arrived at a place in life where I feel good about my talents without being threatened by the talents of other people.

Now I can appreciate how amazing and badass all women are rather than feel intimidated by someone who can do something I can’t or has the desire to do something I don’t.

So here is what I wanted to do.

I’d love to see and hear about your hobbies.

A lot of us are quick to say I don’t have time or I can’t afford to or any other number of reasons, but the reality is that human beings need to create.

When we aren’t fulfilling our creative desires, we get resentful and depressed and angry.

Finding creative outlets is a form of self care.

It’s really not a luxury. It’s a necessary part of being a human being.

When you don’t create, you feel stifled.

So here’s what I wanted to do with this post.

If you have a hobby where you create things — maybe you paint or draw or sculpt or knit or quilt or embroider or bake or… whatever it is you do — I’d love to see/hear about what you do!

Please share!

Leave a comment here on this post about what hobbies you enjoy (or what hobbies you used to enjoy and would love to get back to).

If you are reading this on Facebook, post a photo in the comments. I want to see what your talents are!

If you can’t remember the last time you even thought about doing something simply for the pure pleasure of it, what would you love to get back to doing?

I wanna hear.

As for me, I want to start reading again. I like to repurpose furniture, but I haven’t done that in ages. I love playing cards, but haven’t done that in forever. I love jigsaw puzzles, and now that the kids are older, losing all the pieces from a kid swiping them all onto the floor isn’t such an issue anymore.

I’d love to learn how to knit, and I used to play piano, and I’d love to get back into that.

How about you?

Let me know, because just in case you forgot, fun shouldn’t end with motherhood.

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