Overwhelmed and Owning It

As women, I know we all feel overwhelmed at times. Whether your situation being married, having children, in a relationship, single, in college, having a job, staying at home with your children, or maybe a little of all of the above. We are expected to carry quite the load on our backs. And we are expected to carry this load well and follow through with tasks without a hitch and a smile on our face.

We wear many hats. I like to think of myself as the "tour manager" of the Johnson Family. It's way more rock and roll and it pretty much sums up all my jobs. I'm responsible for everything that goes on in this never ending concert of our lives and make sure it runs smoothly such as: accounting, transportation, janitorial services, accounts payable, accounts receivable, craft services (I'm working on getting better at this one), maintenance, just to name a few. I love how I sound so important! I think I need letters behind my name. Truth of the matter is, it's exhausting. But you know what? It's ok. We can do this!

Growing up as an only child, I didn't have brothers or sisters to prepare myself for having children around 24/7. I got "me" time pretty much whenever I wanted it, I did what I wanted to and I wasn't responsible for anyone or anything else. The only thing that was dependant on me were my dogs and cats and that was just for food, water and attention. No big deal. Easy peasy. Piece of cake. No problemo.

More than anything when I found out I was pregnant with our little angel, Blaze, I was freaked out because I didn't know how good a job at "Mom" I could do. I have never had such a HUGE responsibility on my shoulders before. Raising a human is probably the biggest responsibility you can have. You aren't just responsible for your job, or your relationship or marriage, you are in charge of a person's LIFE. It's YOU that shows them how to navigate through this world with as much knowledge and common sense that you can show them so they grow up to reach their potential and be respectable human beings.  Not to mention you have to feed, clothe, and clean the thing.

I never understood this before becoming a mother but parents ALWAYS want better for their children. Even if you are a millionaire, you want your children to be billionaires! When I saw little Blaze on the sonogram screen, I immediately knew my responsibility was going to be a big task. When Blaze was born, nothing could have prepared me for everything that was in store. No more sleeping in. No more going wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. Waking up at all hours of the night with a screaming baby that you have no idea why they are crying, can make YOU want to cry and hope that God gives you mercy to make it better. And the list of the way your body changes, well that's a mile long. Honestly, I was overwhelmed. BIG TIME. Thankfully Clint is such a good husband and daddy. He helped so much. Still, I did feel like I wasn't doing the best that I could because now there was SO much to do and I couldn't keep up.

Point is, no matter your situation, we are overwhelmed. We carry the weight of the world for our family. We have to be the director and get assistant director credits. The moment when we realize that this is our role and accept it, it really takes a mental load off. When you put your leader hat on and just tell yourself, "Ok, I can do this!" It makes your life so much easier. Don't sweat the small stuff because worrying about every little detail can and WILL make you go crazy. Enjoy life. Bask in every single moment that you have with your family because it goes by WAY too fast.

Love yourself. Love your family. Love life!

And remember I love you too!

-Kaci