This post is by Tami Rodriguez.
Seasons come and seasons go so they say.
As a wife and mother, Iâm not sure I ever thought much about seasons. Life often felt like one unending day. Iâd make a meal, serve a meal, clean up a mealâŚrepeat repeat repeat. Iâd do laundry and do laundry and do laundry. Nothing felt very significant or noteworthy. Yes, I was raising kids to be âKingdom buildersâ and trying to equip them to have an impact on this worldâbut often that felt like little bits of time in the midst of mundane monotony. I do remember looking back at times and thinking, âOh weâre officially done with sippy cupsâ or âWow! I donât have to bring a diaper bag with me anymore!â When I had those realizations, THEN I would become aware that a season had come and gone without warningâŚbut it was not without stress! Those days of lost gross sippy cups (you know itâs happened to us all!) or getting somewhere and realizing I hadnât restocked wipes added stress to my days. But itâs a stress that does not last, and Iâm realizing thatâs true in most parenting and life in general!
Being unaware that the stress weâre feeling wonât last forever can be very discouraging. In a world Iâm constantly told to âpractice being present,â one way Iâm trying to do that better is by being aware of seasons. For example, if you wouldâve talked to me a year ago, I was frazzled and overwhelmed. My son was diagnosed with Epilepsy at 17 and what we didnât know was it would take until he was 20 to get it fully under control. That meant I spent a lot of my days driving him to work, activities and appointments that any ânormalâ high school graduate would do themselves while still keeping up with my younger kids' activities as well. I never slowed down long enough to think about the fact that this was not going to be forever. It felt like forever, just like sleepless nights or potty training seems like it will never endâbut it does.
I want to be more conscious of the difficulties I am facing and start asking myself some simple questions. Questions like, how long is this likely to last? Is it necessary? Is there anything I can do to make it easier in the meantime? Going back to the diaper bag exampleâhow long will it last? Until my youngest is about 3, maybe 4. Is it necessary? Yup! What can I do in the meantime to make it easier? I can have a certain day of the week I check and restock my bag. I can also have an emergency box in my car that has a change of clothes, wipes etc to cover me just in case.
During our new Epilepsy challenges, I wish I wouldâve asked these same questions because even though I didnât know how long it would last, looking back I can see there were some things I could have done to make it easier on myself. Iâm also recognizing that sometimes you just have to ride out seasons and difficulties. If you choose to stay home with your kids, finances are most likely going to be an issue that may not have a full solution until kids are grown or you go back to work. For us, with growing kids we are running out of space, but we know in a few short years theyâll be moving out and weâll have more space than we know what to do with. This is not a problem worth âsolvingâ by moving right now, we can simply ride out this season of life.
As you walk through your own difficult days, try asking yourself some questions. Slow down and put into perspective what you are going through and see if you can find some ways to be less overwhelmed in both thought and practice until this season passes. Simply being aware that this is not forever can bring a lot of peace to your current situation.
Tami Rodriguez has been married to her high school sweetheart for 30 years and has 5 children plus a lovely daughter in law! She has homeschooled for 20 years and still has 5 more to go...send coffee! Tami is a lifelong learner who loves to study Godâs Word and share with others whenever given the opportunity. You can find her living life as âjust a mom who likes to writeâ over on instagram @rodfamily007.
Photo by reihane haririzade on Unsplash
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