A Simple Trick that Changed My Life
Despite everything, I was getting burned out. I’m a wife to a wonderful husband. I have three happy, healthy children who I love. I’m also an author, caregiver to my family, full-time chef, healer of boo-boos, cheerleader, maid, planner of playground visits, and finder of lost toys. I love my life, but to be honest, I started to get burned out with all these responsibilities.
I found myself not being the best mom or wife I could be or had been. I was losing my patience too easily with my children. I just seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the bed more often than I should have—in fact, every side of my bed must have been the wrong side of the bed, or at least that’s how it felt.
Have you ever felt this way? It’s not a good feeling, but many moms get rundown and burned out from all of the responsibilities of motherhood just like I did. That does not mean we don’t love being a mom. It just means we need to refocus our mind.
How to Change Your Mindset
My husband had been discovering the practice of gratitude through meditation. I saw a transformation in his attitude and an amplified appreciation for me and our children. I was encouraged by his change, and decided I would try mediation as well. I tried it for a week. I would wake up, sit in a quiet space for ten minutes and focus on three things I was grateful for during that time. I began to notice how my attitude started to shift as I was mentally looking for things to be thankful for in my next meditation time.
Instead of focusing on the negative, I found myself thinking about the good parts of my daily life. I decided to focus on things I have to be thankful for like a warm bed to sleep in, food in our refrigerator, time to myself before kids wake up, or a new water bottle to enjoy. By shifting my mind to look for things I was thankful for I began to notice an improvement in my patience point; I was more optimistic; I was responding to my children rather than reacting to their behavior; I didn’t stress about the small things; and I appreciated the people and things in my life more. I also give my gratitude routine credit for making me much more mentally strong which helped me survive two miscarriages in 2019. This entire transformation didn’t happen in just a week, but I did start to see results in as little as a week.
Why I Created a Gratitude Journal for Moms
During my meditation time I often found my mind wandering. When you think about one thing your brain makes a connection to something else and that leads your brain on another digression—I’ve heard this referenced as spaghetti brain. (Guys have waffle brains, but we will save that topic for another time.)I definitely have spaghetti brain! It was hard for me to compartmentalize my thoughts, so I began journaling to help keep me focused during my gratitude practice. Writing down my gratitudes helped keep my brain from going off on a tangent.
I thought other moms would benefit from a gratitude journal like I did to help create a daily habit of starting your day with a thankful heart. I believe this simple act of practicing gratitude will help you, and me, be the best mom, wife, employee, employer, friend, or person we are meant to be.