Pliability

A requirement for motherhood is flexibility. I'm not talking about the down dog, stand on your head flexibility but the pliability to take what each day brings and just go with it.

I have always had high expectations for myself but with time my expectations or rather my ability to evolve and grow and to become the person I want to be has changed. 

I remember being a newlywed and my husband was in school full time and working and a good meal to us was "mushroom surprise" with melted ice cream for dessert because our freezer didn't stay cold enough.  Regardless of the poor culinary skills and sub-par refreshments I felt grown up and I was learning how to become a better housewife. My expectation was that we had dinner together.

I also remember after having our first feeling overwhelmed by responsibility of having another person to care for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and feeling so proud if we got somewhere early with all of his essentials.  The day after he was born I slowly hobbled through Costco to buy freezer food because I could not comprehend taking care of him and cooking an entire healthy meal. 

Fast forward 5 years and we now have 3 kids and my ideas about myself and my expectations are a little different.  I can practically cook anything one handed while holding a baby! It seems like a vacation to only have 1 child; and things that I needed work on have become my strengths {I do not think I am the best cook in the world but I think I do pretty well}. The same goes for motherhood, I have been pliable to my expectations and my children's needs and have learned so much from the 3 of them in the past 5 years and I know that this growing process is an eternal one.   Lately I have been so grateful and proud of my children.  They are generous, kind, loving and thankful for what we have.  They are an example to me. 

What I am getting at is some days I want to give up and go back to my old norms of acceptability but I can't because I have learned and grown and more is expected of me because of my experiences.  We are on this earth to become better not revert to easier/lazier ways of doing things. 

Now not everyone is the same and we should not compare ourselves to someone who is more pliable or has a greater capacity to handle various situations but with consistent effort, you will grow and rise up to handle your load.  Your capacity will increase and you will look back and see your growth.