Peace
This quote is one that really sticks for me. I had found it quite a while ago (thanks Pinterest!) and quite honestly I’m a sucker for a good inspirational quote. I wrote it on a white board in my office, which I do with quotes pretty often. I had read it over and over again and thought “Wow, that’s a good thing to work towards. Peace sounds good, lets do that!”. I was walking past it one day when the words really hit me.
“It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”
Light bulb on.
Those things are never going away. With three small kids things are never going to be calm. There’s going to be dirt and something sticky that you can’t quite identify and screeches and tears. There will absolutely be noise, trouble, and hard work. From all of us. I can fight against it and think maybe if I can just parent ENOUGH or in the right way, my kids will be a little more peace and a little less Tasmanian Devil. If I just do the right things, maybe we will finally get a little quiet in this house. If I find the magic formula, things will just click and feel easy.
But that’s not how it works.
There will always be noise, trouble, and hard work.
That is just the way the world is. Whether is parenting, or work, or the world at large, all of those things will always be present to some extent (looking at you, COVID-19). Yes, they ebb and flow, but ohhhhhh when they flow - do they flow.
I can continue to fight that, keep looking for that magic whatever that will just make things click, or I can find some peace right where I am. I can choose to spend my energy fighting for something that just doesn’t exist and feeling guilt for not being enough, or I can put my energy into something that fulfills me.
I can accept that my kids just are NOT the sit-quietly-and-color type.
I can accept that marriage is hard ass work.
I can accept that work may never feel done.
I can accept that there’s some nutty people out there in the world and not all of them are going to think the way I do.
I can accept that not everyone is going to like me.
