#1: Stress Less

So I have decided that it's a new year and it's time to set some goals. There are lots of things I want to accomplish this year and loose ends I want to tie up. At the end of 2011 I posted a blog about feeling like I hadn't come very far but that I knew there were things I had to do on my own to move forward. So, my first goal I'm working on is stressing less. Such a common thing people want right? Everyone I know has stress and wishes it would all just go away. The last couple months that is EXACTLY what I've been saying. When will this all just go away.... but it won't. Things don't magically disappear and rarely do things fix themselves. However, I ran across this picture and it really got me thinking....

I sat and I looked at this picture and a light went off in my head. Probably 90% of the stuff that stresses me out and makes me go crazy will not matter in a year from now. Will my stresses annoy me for a few months? Probably. Will they make me want to pull my hair out? Yes. But, I am the only person who can decide how much time and worry I put into them. The time I'm spending worrying about crap and bullshit is not only taking away from me being present when I'm with my kids, but it's making me crabby so when I'm with them I lose patience quickly. That isn't fair to me or to my kids. My children are only young for a short time. They grow so unbelievably quickly and the time just flies by and before I know it they will be grown. I don't want to miss it or feel like I was crabby the whole time. I want to be fully present in my children's lives every moment that I am spending with them. So often I say how can I be a better mom? And I think this is definitely step 1. What I don't have control of will happen whether I worry about it or not. My worry and stress will not change the outcome of a situation. So from here going forward, I will ask myself that question, will this matter a year from now?? The fact is I am a single mom and it is just me and my kids 90% of the time. If I'm not fully present when we are together then how will they ever feel fulfilled? I want my kids to grow up and say, "Wow... my mom was amazing. She really did a great job despite the hurdles presented to her." So, to all the worries filling my mind and taking away from my family, I big thee well, but you are here by evicted from my head. Au revoir!