You are doing just fine.

I've been thinking about this post for a while, and have finally put pen to paper. ...or fingers to keyboard.

It all started when one week, a few months back, a couple of people said to me, "I don't know how you do it." To which I looked at them, raised my eyebrows, and said "...do what?"

They then gave me some examples of things I did in my "spare time." Things I considered run-of-the-mill  must-do activities. Things that I would admittedly confess kept me busy, but not things I would necessarily say labeled me as "accomplished." 

I then thought about how oftentimes when I reflect on my day, it's a laundry list of things I didn't do. 

 "Dang it - I overslept and didn't get my Bible Study in." 

"I meant to call so-n-so and see how they did on that huge project at work." 

"Missed the gym again. That makes day 4 and it's only Wednesday."

"I have approximately 7 Shutterfly books I need to make." 

"You haven't blogged in 5 days."

"Charlie only got a 20 minute walk today. You can do better than that."

Trust me - the list goes on. And on. And on. 

So then I started thinking - if other people look at me and see all my accomplishments, why do I look at myself and only see the areas where I've come up short? 

Why are we so hard on ourselves?

If you're like me (single, no kids, and in the career-focused point of your life), I realized I tend to look at my activities outside of work. What did I (not) get accomplished in the X amount of hours before I left for work, and the X amount of hours when I got home? People. That is not a lot of time. If you work hard during the day and are a positive influence in the workplace - be proud of that! Sure, you may not be doing your dream job, but don't discount that you've made an honest day's work for yourself today. Just because you're not actively chasing your dream every single day doesn't mean you're failing. It means you're human. It means you're living. 

You are doing just fine. 

What about you mamas? Now, I may have to go out on a limb here because I have not yet experienced this first-hand, but social media tells me you're tired. Whether you're a working mama or a stay at home mama - you're tired. Your child/children need you. All day errday. And you are living off of ginormous cups of caffeine and reminiscing about days when you had time to shower, shave your legs, and fix your hair. The hygiene trifecta. Hey guess what - you're raising tiny humans. You're raising good-hearted, deeply-loved, well-behaved-most-of-the-time precious human beings. Be proud of that. The laundry may not be done, your china cabinet may be dusty, and you may have to wear pants to cover up your Chewbaca legs, but you're making it. 

You are doing just fine.

Lisa and I went to the Dallas flea market last weekend, and I saw this sign across an exhibit. You can ask Lisa, but my eyes lit up and I reached out my arms and went straight for it. I want to buy this for the world and let everyone hang it in their house. It's so incredibly simple, but such a good and needed reminder.

I promise you this - if you made a list of every single accomplishment you did today, you'd realize you accomplished a lot. You may not have accomplished everything on your original to-do list, but no one says you have to. Maybe instead of thinking about everything you didn't do at night, think about everything you did do. There's too much negativity in the world. 

Some days are harder than others, and some day's you'll honest to goodness feel like you've done nothing worthwhile. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remind yourself:

You are doing just fine. 

_____

Until next time,
Katy