Just count to three.

My 6 year old is full of wisdom. If I spill my coffee and get angry. If I stump my toe on the coffee table (all the time!?!) If I’m running late or I feel like I’m running late, she says “Mommy, take a belly breath.” From the mouths of babes.

What she is asking me to do, is pause, count to three and realize whatever is going on probably isn’t worth the overreaction I’m displaying.  In a world where the days are short and the nights are shorter, I have a really difficult time with my desire to want to do everything and everything right now.  That creates a crap ton of tension in my mind, body and soul that overflows into the lives of my family. If I just take a moment, take that “belly breath” time slows down and the tension lifts.

On the days that I take a slower approach, things are so much more peaceful in the home.  The calm pace rubs off on the kiddos and everyone has better day.  The trick is to try and train myself into having more days like that than the normal rat race days. It’s not easy. At least not for me. I’m too damn type A. I want it done right now, it has to be done right (re: the way I would have done it) and don’t you dare deviate. It’s easy to get frazzled, frustrated,  and way too easy to get distracted when things don’t go exactly as planned.

Then at the end of the day, I find myself craving “me” time and I end up staying up to late. That leads to a lack of rest and of course I’m grumpy when I wake up and the cycle continues.  So one of my life changing goals of 2016 is more rest time. Honest rest time. Not browsing on the computer and not even reading. No screens, no phones, earlier bed time and a dark bedroom.  (Studies show that any light in a bedroom can cause less restful sleep even if the light is very minimum.  Night lights = NO! )  While I might be losing actual minutes per day by resting, I’m trading those “lost” minutes for quality minutes. Quality is always better than quantity.  Unless you’re talking about Reeces Pieces then it’s all about quantity. Sorry not sorry.

A more rested Momma = a more peaceful Momma.

At least that is the theory anyways…

Coming soon… Part 2 New Me