You Are Not Alone: Encouragement for the Weary Homeschool Mom
Special note from Jamerrill: This is an encouraging post from sweet Kristi of RaisingClovers.com. Kristi has been a weary homeschool mom and fought to keep her joy in the process. I think you’ll be very blessed by her post today!
You Are Not Alone:
Encouragement for the Weary Homeschool Mom
I literally couldn’t catch my breath. I had closed myself in a room and was curled up on the floor sobbing. I mean, SOBBING! The ugly kind! I was so completely overwhelmed. I kept telling myself that motherhood was not supposed to be this hard. I felt alone and overwhelmed.
Of course, my moment ended quickly. Not because I was over it and felt better, but because my kids found me and I had to get back to real life—swollen eyes and all.
People don’t always see that side of other’s lives. We usually plaster on smiles when we are out and about and post only pictures from the highlights of our day. That’s why I think it’s so easy to feel like we are the only moms out there who feel completely overwhelmed.
That’s just not true. Feeling overwhelmed and alone are very real and normal emotions that seem to accompany motherhood. This is why it’s so important to re-boot our systems.
As moms we are always serving–and that’s okay. I’ve learned that this is a beautiful gift I am giving my family. However, in order to best serve my family and the people the Lord brings into my life, I need to get breaks and some time for rest and rejuvenation.
We need to make time to relax! Schedule it in wherever we can! There is wisdom in the age-old saying of “when the baby rests, mama rests.” Whether they are napping, just down for a quiet time, or to bed for the night, take time to relax a bit and catch your breath, read a book, call a friend, whatever you can do to re-energize—and maybe sneak in some extra time in the Word.
Another tip to get a little break in your day is to enlist the help of a friend. Swap babysitting for each other. This way you get a little break, then she gets a little break. It’s a win-win!
We all need help sometimes—no matter what season of life we are in! What’s crazy is that most of us hate asking for help, even though most moms love helping other moms! What stands in our way? Well, often it’s pride, insecurity—or just complete exhaustion.
I remember several years ago having a breaking moment. We were at our homeschool co-op, and I was nursing our fourth little one during the moms’ prayer time. We broke up into groups to pray just before we had to go and pick up our kids from their classes. Most of the time I would plaster a smile on my face and put my best foot forward. But this time, I was just tired. Too tired to care about what other moms might think.
So, I decided to ask for “prayer.” I figured this was a good start. I wasn’t asking for help, just for prayer. Well, God blessed me that day. My sweet friend, whom I was sitting with, offered to ask her daughter if she’d be willing to come over and help out. Not only was her daughter saving up for a ballet camp and looking for ways to earn some extra money, but we discovered that they lived three minutes away from me. Amazing! We ended up having this lovely, young lady come once a week for several months to help out.
Words cannot express how much that helped and blessed us. I learned such a valuable lesson that day! Asking for help is sometimes the first step in allowing God to answer our prayer for help. Nobody really expects you to have it all together all the time. No one has mothering mastered.
Asking for help is sometimes the first step in allowing God to answer our prayer for help.
All that being said, all of us moms need to stick together! We need to unite. We need to draw on each other’s strengths, not be intimidated by them. We need to get in the habit of checking in with each other to see if we can help each other out. All of us need breaks—and we also need fellowship and camaraderie! So, be sure to schedule in some girl time.
We all need a little “quiet” at some point in our day week. {I’m being real—it’s sometimes hard to get quiet everyday. That’s the goal, but I thought I’d say “week” there to make you feel better if it’s not happening daily.} So, let’s work together and encourage one another to fill up our “sanity tanks” by being intentional about getting a little quiet into our lives.
Looking for more ideas on how to add some sanity to your day?
Today’s post has excerpts from Chapter 6 “Create Your Own ‘Quiet Time!'” of my new book, Sanity Savers for Moms: 7 Simple Solutions for a More Joy-filled Life. I’m excited to tell you that I’m offering my book for FREE for a limited time to subscribers. I even have some great printables at the back that I know you will enjoy!
Kristi Clover is a Christian, homeschooling mom to five blessings ranging from teens to tots and wife to her high school crush. Aside from her family, she’s passionate about encouraging and inspiring women in their daily lives as moms, wives, and homeschoolers by offering “Simple Solutions for a More Joy-filled Life.” Her tips are creative, practical, and help bring back some simplicity in the chaos of life and homeschooling—helping moms to let go of the mommy guilt they often feel in this “Pinterest-perfect” world. She blogs about her adventures in wifehood, mommyhood, and the fun to be found in homeschooling at Raising Clovers. You can find her on YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter—& Periscope as @RaisingClovers! She’s also the author of The Scoop on Scope: Periscope Pointers for Beginners, Bloggers, and Beyond! and Sanity Savers for Moms: 7 Simple Solutions for a More Joy-filled Life.
Photo by: (c) Can Stock Photo