Just Be...

A Quitter

Ever notice how sometimes we cling to things and keep pushing in different areas of our life when we really just need to let go? I don't know about you, but I know I have done it many times (and I'm sure, will continue to do so.)  Most recently, I have decided to start a new trend in my life, a be a bit of a quitter.

Now let me clarify. One of our family motto's is (to misquote Winston Churchill) "Never, never, never give up." So, you may ask, how does being a quitter fit in with that motto? Let me explain.

I have been working on potty training with Baby B. She decided that it would be a good area of her life to assert her independence (even though she was the one who wanted to be potty trained in the first place). It has been truly, ahem, lovely. Baby B would stand across the room. Suddenly, she would look me in the eye and mess her pants. You could almost hear thinking, 'Take that Mama!' Or, she would wet her pants and then come happily tell me that they were wet.

Aaaaargh. To say I have been frustrated would be putting it lightly. One day, I left Baby B with Grandma while I went to town for some grocery shopping. When I returned, Grandma told me that Baby B happily would come and tell her whenever she had to go to the bathroom and off they would go. No power struggle whatsoever.

 It was then that I decided that I quit.

The constant frustration just wasn't worth it. (Now, if you're wondering if I was being too pushy with the potty training, I was really trying not to. I was offering rewards when she did go, giving lots of praise. I admit that every hour or so I would say, "Tell Mama if you have to go potty." but I wasn't forcing her to go. ) Baby B is a VERY smart, very independent little girl.  This was just the area that she decided to use that intelligence.

Once I quit, a funny thing happened. My little girl decided that she would go to the potty all the time, instead of in her pants. Yep. All that work for all these weeks and now when I decided I didn't care...

It made me realize that maybe there were other areas in my life that I need to just quit pushing so hard, and let go.

There are people in my life that disappeared when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Now, two years clear, they've come back because my life is now easier to handle. Part of me is tempted to let them back in to my inner circle of trust-but they have already shown that they are not ready for that level of friendship and that's okay.

I often have unrealistic expectations about how my house, myself,  my family, or my life should look.

There are projects that I have taken on for who knows what reason...maybe appearance sake? Then, when I can't complete them to my satisfaction, I beat myself up over it.

Sometimes, something's not working and you can't fix it. Then it's time to move on.

But you know what?

True friends will always be there, whether we see each other frequently or not. My house will never look like a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot. I will never look like I walked out of a magazine (I don't have stylists to help me with that). There is no such thing as a perfect mom, something I am sooooo thankful for. My children will always be their adorable selves (no stylists needed there ☺) fighting at times like all good siblings do.  Our family will always be a titch quirky. I will really try to not take on random projects, just because I feel that I should.

Anyone else feel like quitting some things with me?

Click the banner above to vote for Just B. @Top Mommy Blogs! You can vote once a day.