Being appreciated as a mom feels like a far-fetched idea until we put it in perspective.
No one organizes a parade when you are done washing dishes, cleaning the house, paying the bills, and bathing all the kids.
Those tasks are just expected of you because you are the matriarch of the household.
Then you get to wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
Maybe with even more cleaning because the kids made a mess…again.
Mindset
Shifting our mindset to a more graceful and grateful attitude can help with our feelings of unappreciation.
Your family loves you, but it is hard for them to always show their gratitude because like all of us…they live in their own little world.
You may be asking yourself… “easier said than done, how do I even begin to shift my mindset?”
Steps to Shifting Perspective
- Self-Care– Focus on your well-being first. Make time to eat right, exercise, meditate, and pray on a regular basis. Start a skincare routine and, cleaning routine. My natural tendency is to fight against routine and schedules, but routines are a must! Routines are not the suffocating box I always imagined them to be.. they are freedom! No matter what happened that day if you did the items in your routine, you could say you had a productive day.
- Start each day with gratitude. Wake up and thank God for allowing you to breathe today. Declare out loud that today will be an amazing day!
- Ask for Help – Don’t hesitate to ask for help from your spouse and your kids. Everyone can do their part to make your household a safe, healthy, organized environment for the family. Going back to the routines.. kids thrive on routine, so make chores a natural routine. Eventually you will see your daughter go straight to putting away dishes as soon as she wakes up because it is now part of her routine. It takes some effort, but kids can be trained to do chores, and they will be better adults for it.
- Pray– Daily prayer to God to give you patience and kindness in your heart to love and nurture your family moves your heart and mind in the right direction. Where bitterness, resentfulness and anger may have grown, now through mindful prayer kindness, patience and love can grow. Truly growing in our service to one another as a family brings happiness and a peaceful house.
- Be careful of what you verbalize. I have been so guilty of this over the years. Always wearing my heart on my sleeve and saying every grumpy, stressed out, negative thing in my head as I seeped in my own self-made pity party.
“No one does as much as I do,”
“No one helps around the house” – It sounded like “Eeyore” had moved into our house. This does not change behavior, it helps alienate your family members from you. They tend to avoid angry moms, and the behaviors you want to change never get better at all.
Breathe and watch your words.
You do not have to believe every thought in your head.
You also do not have to verbalize every thought…it only perpetuates negative thinking.
Communication and setting an accepting tone for your family is key to creating a peaceful, healthy environment.
Will it be perfect every day. Of course not.
You cannot control everyone’s bad moods; you can only control how you react to them.
Much love to you and many blessings. From one woman to another, I thank you for all you do to raise young future leaders, and move a family, no matter what size it may be, closer to God, kindness, and love.
