The Truth Heals

You know that old saying, “the truth hurts?” Well, I think it heals. You know, the truth will set you free and all that…
I love the idea behind this challenge from Mama Manifesto for that reason. The challenge? GET REAL! If every mom felt free to do so, I think we’d all be a bit more comfortable in our own skin. Not as a justification for the times that we don’t measure up to what we’d like to be doing, but as a recognition that we are only human and can’t be perfect. We all have some things we need work on and we always will. Some are the same and some are different. But admitting them can be the very thing that makes another mom realize she doesn’t have to kill herself to try to be something that another mom is not.

(If you’d like to play along, leave a comment with a link to your blog with a similar post. That would rock the party.)

Here it goes!
I let Miles watch more PBS than I like to admit. Curious George, Clifford, Sesame Street, Dragon Tales, Calliou, Zaboomafoo…Have I missed anything? I like to think we limit television more than we actually do.

Church? What church? It’s summer!

I do what I can to feed the boys organic, fresh and healthy foods, but they have nasty-yellow-number-5-sugar-filled fruit snacks all too often.

I rarely exercise.

I have a hard time escaping my own head space to be truly present with my kids.

I’m much too hard on my husband. He does SO much and yet I still want more, I still pout and play the martyr. I hate it and haven’t figured out how to stop.

I keep forgetting to brush Asher’s new teeth.

If I let myself get too unorganized and into my ADD, I forget to pay bills, lose my keys, my car becomes a dump and I can’t finish a sentence. It happens often.

I still have those occasional moments of intense fear that my children will have something horrible happen to them, right in front of me. Then they’ll be gone and I’ll be left with guilt.

I don’t think I’m all that good of an example of my faith on a daily basis. I get all anxious and cranky instead of at peace and full of joy like I want to be.

My boys don’t get a bath every day. Neither do I.

I compare myself WAY too much to other people and worry that I won’t ever measure up.

I’m so terribly afraid of bees that I make a fool of myself often by suddenly sprinting away, no matter who I’m talking to.

I rarely wash my face at night. Even on the rare occasion that I wear make-up. I’d just rather go to bed.

I spend so much time trying to take a break from the kids to be on the computer, it’s ridiculous.

By the time it’s time for dinner, I feel really lazy about cooking and pretty much half-ass the whole thing.

Sometimes I say things like “half-ass,” but don’t tell my mom.

I worry too much about what my mom thinks of me.

During a true confrontation, I completely shut-down. Mute. Blank. Gone.

I am still avoiding potty training and Miles is 3 years old and (and one month!)

Okay, that’s enough. You get the idea. I’m no Mother of the Year. But you know what I realized? We could all make lists like this a mile long and we’d still be okay. Read this post and you’ll see what I mean. I’m too tired to explain. See? Totally lazy!