The Me inside the Mommy

Before I even got pregnant with Lyric (in June of 2006) I had a long mental list of things I wanted to do as a mom and things I wanted to make sure I didn't do.  Things like I wanted to lose my pregnancy weight between each kid and things like I didn't want to be an overprotective mom.  And everything in between.  But something that I really felt like was key to being a successful mommy was making sure that I always was sure I knew of who I was.  What I mean is that I didn't lose my identity in being a mom...and still had an identity as 'Petra'.  I don't know if this was birthed out of some wisdom I received in my growing up years or from the observation of other mothers and parents or even from a mixture of both...but it was a very large part of my value system of parenthood even before I had my first positive pregnancy test.  

Now that I'm a mom however I have had to learn how to put that principle into practice.  Because I LOVE my kids.  I would absolutely do anything for them!  And I know that to love them I must continue to 'love' me and know who I am.  I know that to be their mommy I have to know first of all who I am and in all honesty...let that lead who I am as a mommy.  I don't know if for most people this is common sense or if it's a learned principle.  And sometimes I wonder if we even sometimes as moms slow down to give it much thought.  But really this principle extends far beyond just those of us as mommy's.  It is completely possible to lose your identity to other things like your job, your schooling, your money,etc...  

So basically that means that every so often I like to remind myself of the things I love and the things I like to do.  And to make sure that I am doing at least some of them.  It's somewhat like a personal accountability sheet.  Fortunately for me some of the things I love easily overlap into my parenting/home, etc... 

So for your info what are those things?  What are the things that make me me?  I'm going to just put out there that my relationship with God, my husband and children are first and farmost incredibly important to me.  And I invest the majority of my life and energy into them.  But there are some other things that are life-giving to me that I need to just maintain a sense of personal identity and wholeness.

Here are just a few things I'm currently doing that help me stay grounded in who I am

1.  Cooking from scratch, menu planning and eating naturally 

2.  Budgeting and frugal living

3.  Creating and making things for our home and for gifts

4.  Reading (I'm on book 37 of this years goal of 50 books)

5.  Writing...this is one I have to remember to do...my journaling has been lacking and blogging as well

6.  Pursuing friendships...ones that are deep and meaningful and life giving.  I'm not really good as small talk.

7.  Dreaming of future life goals.

8.  Making sure that I am growing and learning from my weaknesses.

9.  Learning to judge my life by my standards and not by the standards of the world

10.  If I can make it for cheaper I will try.  This currently has me in a multitude of to do lists and ideas and goals...but I love knowing that I have the ability to execute the ideas in my head.

And those are just some.  Those are things that I do that help me stay true to myself and be the best person that I can be...so that I am the best mommy I can be.