Stre - tch - ing

I'm actually NOT going to talk about stretching in the yoga or physical sense of the word. Today, I'm thinking about being stretched intellectually. As mothers in the thick of mothering small ones, life tends to become a series of repetitious acts: lots of feeding, diapering, getting off to sleep, cleaning up etc. There can be lots of joy in that...lots of love...lots of rewards. There can also be a sense of despair that sets in: "I'm never any farther than I was the day before". We become easy candidates for depression, often unaware of it at the time. "Why is everything so hard right now?" When we give and give (night and day), we burn out. We get grouchy. Even start feeling like the victim in it all. (Or am I the only one?!! I don't think so).

Good things to do in those times or to prevent getting that low can include: getting some time alone or with a friend, doing one nice thing for yourself (like taking a long bath instead of doing the dishes when the kids are in bed), asking for help, or....learning something new! Some of us probably find it easier to do some of these things than others, for various reasons. That's okay. But we do all need a certain amount of attention and care ourselves or we self-destruct. Because we have limits. We can't do it all. When a battery's energy is being depleted by long use, it needs to be recharged. So do we.

These days I've often been feeling low. There's always more to do than I can handle, we've all ben struggling with illness since Christmas, not sleeping well at night, and other things I won't go into. But one thing I started in January, in the middle of all of this, was a pubic speaking course. Sound crazy? Maybe. But I'm doing something that's getting me closer to a dream of mine...a dream that had been dormant for quite some time...the dream of speaking to women. Plus, learning is a passion that also has been unpursued in the past six years.

So, I'm taking this course. And I'm learning. And I'm being stretched. And it's giving me energy. Yesterday was my first prepared speech. I went into it, feeling very insecure and under-prepared all day. Then, suddenly, it was show-time. And I did well! Sure, I hand-clasped and rushed at the end, but I did it! And I was happy with it. And I've been on a bit of a high ever since. It hasn't been easy trying to squeeze in the time to prepare and rehearse, but it's given me an outlet for my creativity, a place for me to grow and try things, an opportunity to say, "I did that and I'm proud".

If you're in a place in your mothering where you can take a bit of time away from your kids, I encourage you to go out and try something new. Str-etch a little. It will be so worth it! And if you're right in the newborn phase, try to snatch up the time you can to read something or write something or even take a Mom-and-baby Pilates class or something. You'll gain all the energy back you put into it and more!