Mother’s Day is today in the US. It’s a day that is awesome but brings up a lot of challenging emotions for many, even those who have an amazing mom, family and/or kids to celebrate and enjoy. The message I’ve been getting loud and clear that moms (and their kids) need to know this Mother’s Day is simple: worry less about being perfect.
Perfection is definitely one of the topics that frustrates me the most in all areas of life, because it can be so easy to get caught up in attempts to achieve perfection and miss out on so much of life as a result. I think what frustrates me most about it though is that it’s so close to impossible to even reach perfection yet it gets held out to us like this gold standard instead of the ready-for-the-trash-heap concept it really is. It’s so seductive to have that voice in your head telling you that ‘of course there’s perfect’ and ‘wouldn’t it be so nice if you made this perfect?’ but that voice is so wrong and leads you down bad trails that those who are addicts are very familiar with.
Instead, when it comes to being a mom or having a mom, we should let the focus be on love, community, compassion, potential and family. Of course we need to teach our kids right from wrong, do our best to shape them into productive and contributing adults, and teach them to believe in themselves and their capabilities. And sometimes we need to let forgiveness, grace, compassion and love shape all our familial relationships, because sometimes doing “stuff” isn’t enough, and we need to let our hearts take the lead. So this Mother’s Day (and every day) know that it’s OK to not be perfect and to tell that little voice in your head to go away because you’re busy living and loving with your family.