I have always liked to get involved in things. No matter what stage of life I am in, I find myself taking on a role that puts me out there to plan, organize, and be involved. It’s fun for me. I loved being class mom, and on parent council in preschool, and this past year I was part of a group that rallied to get Full Day Kindergarten in our district. Now, I am taking on an active role in the Greenlawn Civic Association and am loving getting to know the happenings in our community. But doing all these things takes time…there are meetings, events, and if we are being honest a tons of texts and facebook messages. This on top of being a SAHM, and having a job (yes…I have a job), I often find myself overwhelmed. But sometimes when I find myself telling someone about WHY I am feeling overwhelmed it just sounds dumb. It all sounds so frivolous, and unimportant, but the fact remains that all of the things ARE important to me.
Most likely I am being too hard on myself, but I see the looks on the faces of “working moms”, or even other SAHM when I talk about meetings and such and I hear “that’s great…but I just don’t have the time”. But don’t we make time for what we find important? Sometimes Captain Awesome will just shake his head at me, and make a joke about the fact that I don’t get paid to do the things that take up most of my time, but so many important things in a community get done by volunteers. I won’t even get started with the argument over my duties as a mom at home, but I’m not going to lie…..they are important.
I have such “first world problems”. It’s actually rather funny. Again, as I say them out loud I sound ridiculous. It’s all about playdates, and grocery shopping….fundraisers, and meetings for this and that. I have pick ups and drop offs, library classes, and Gymboree. One night I even caught myself complaining to The Captain and a friend about how many night time things I had which included getting my hair done, having meetings and my tennis lesson. As I said it out loud I cringed. I’m such a desperate housewife! Luckily I was able to laugh at myself, but even though I choose to do all these things I still get stressed. Of course I understand none of it is life or death stuff. I know my meetings about a school budget vote won’t save third world countries, but should they be looked down upon?
I am truly blessed that I am able to take on all the things that I love to do. I am thankful that I get to be so involved in the community, and we all know I love being the CEO of our family. I certainly am doing what I am meant to be doing, but there are days/weeks that I have taken on too much. And if I complain to you and you think “my things” don’t mean much I ask you to keep your thoughts to yourself. The “Jen Things” matter. Mostly to me, my kids and my family, but that’s my world. And I’m pretty happy in it!
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