Surviving the Mommy Meltdown

Mommy Meltdown:

aka tightening of the chest, slowness of breath, a lack of desire to tackle the world, extreme hyper focus on the unaccomplished and uncontrollable things in life, an overwhelming urge to jump on the nearest plane and escape reality as you currently know it.

You know you are about to have a mommy meltdown when….

1. You are getting ready to pay your bills and realize that for some reason the online payment did not go through last month when your internet crashed, which means you now owe $490 instead of $245.

2. You realize you have to explain it to your very understanding husband.

3. You head out to the freezer in the garage to get meat for dinner and notice that you still haven’t unpacked a bazillion boxes of who knows what even though it’s been a year since you moved in.

4. While you are carrying the frozen meat, you realize that your writing class is tomorrow and you still haven’t prepared for it because you sacrificed your planning time to go to a very important unplanned event.

5. While the meat is thawing you check your email and the sweet librarian has emailed you that those 49 books you checked out are all overdue. Hmmm….

6. But you don’t have time to calculate your fines because you also just realized that your dinner plans have been foiled because that very important ingredient you desperately need is not in your pantry.

7. And your husband is already on his way home.

8. While you are scrambling to find a substitute ingredient the phone rings and its bad news.

9. The head of the volunteer program you work for has just resigned and they need you to fill in but it’s only for a short time they assure you.

10. As you hang up the phone you realize it’s that time of the month and for some reason you forgot to write down unmentionables on your toiletries list when you went to the grocery store.

We have all been there. We have all experienced moments in life when the snowflakes of stress can suddenly snowball. Instead of being able to enjoy life we find ourselves at the bottom of a hill watching as the huge snowball prepares to take us out.

Recently, I was there. Just before the snowball took me out I realized that some of the best things in life and the greatest victories come with a stressful price tag. Just because something is causing us stress does not mean that it is bad or that we should shrink away from it.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,

but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.  Prov 14:4

Simply stated oxen poop. They smell and create a huge mess. The farmer knows that but he is willing to clean up after his oxen because he knows the price of his reward far outweighs the stress he is now experiencing.

So, the next time your feeling a little  ”covered up” and things don’t smell just right in your home.  Grab the nearest shovel and start digging!  And while your digging put a smile on your face because this is one of the benefits of reaping an abundant harvest.

My meltdown stopped when I realized that all of my internal stress was coming from good things. Things I am thankful for. Things I gladly invest myself in because of the abundant harvest that will come from it. When I focused on this truth the rolling snowball suddenly stopped and I survived the mommy meltdown.

Beth discovered how fun learning can be when she began homeschooling in 2003. She considers homeschooling to be a treasured blessing.On the path with her are her 2 boys and husband John, who is her biggest supporter and fan. Somehow she has enabled her frog loving outdoor boys to love tough subjects like Latin, Writing and Grammar. (She is not kidding!) Now if she could only get them to eat all their vegetables. Beth loves capturing life’s precious moments with her camera and decorating them with Photoshop. You can visit her blog at Pages of Our Life.

Tags: bills, christian living, Giving Thanks, learning to relax, meltdowns, mothers, overscheduling, planning, Stress Management, taking a breath

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