The Art of Being a Mom of Three and a Whole Person at the Same Time (Half-Naked and on Very Little Sleep, Nonetheless)

As if I'm gonna do something wild like raise three kids in this wacky world and not try to be the best at it. The thing is, I got lost here last time. Buried in the thick of it. My intentions were pure, but I ended up letting motherhood swallow me whole. That's until 2021/2022 came along, and I rediscovered who I was separate from this all-consuming role. Now my goal is to integrate the two. How am I doing it, you ask? Well, now I carve out little pockets of time for myself to be creative, subversive, and in my 'thinking' zone. Those were all parts that I had free rein of before. Part of the process now means arriving here in this space and getting some thoughts out, no matter how jumbled and incoherent they may be. I give myself the gift of grace when assessing my mistakes and oversights, and I remember that I'm better for them when I also meet my own needs. It's not possible to focus on myself to a large extent, and I've known this was part of the deal all along, but it is possible to slow down and remind myself I exist. I'm a real person. Before I became a mom, I was a woman in a state of becoming. It helps to remind myself that just because I'm working on helping my children pen their own beautiful stories, mine isn't finished yet either. You never know, I may not even have written the best part yet.