Picture this: your kitchen counters have food on them, there are dirty dishes in the sink, clean dishes in the dishwasher waiting to be unloaded. Your living room has toys all over the place and crumbs on the floor that you keep meaning to clean up.
All the bedrooms in the house look cluttered with things misplaced and clean clothes that you have yet to put away. One kid is begging for you to play with them and the other is in desperate need of a nap.
Does any of this sound familiar? What I described to you is exactly what my house looks like at the moment. Honestly, it’s just another ordinary day of a mama who is BURNT. OUT.
One day my house is spotless and I feel like I have it all together and the next, it looks like a tornado ran through it and I am on the verge of a mental breakdown.
If you are anything like me, it’s hard to function in a messy home. On days like today, I feel like I can’t even think straight and all my thoughts are an exact reflection of my house. Chaos.
It doesn’t help that I am OCD. My unorganized thoughts and ongoing to-do list become obsessive and that just adds to the madness.
It’s so easy to get sucked into the idea that everything needs to be tidy and picture perfect all the time. Especially when looking at other moms on social media that seem to have the secret to the perfect life.
As hard as it is to let that idea go, there are more pressing matters in our homes that need tending to.
There have been so many times that I have dismissed my 4 year old because “I have to get this done right now”. When really, the dishes can wait, the laundry can wait, everything that is out of order can wait.
We are so quick to prioritize our to-do lists over the one simple request from our children. Connection.
Why does connecting and playing with our children seem so daunting at times? We love our kids! We want to spend time with them, yet we tell ourselves, and them that we can’t because we need to straighten up the house.
There will come a day when my oldest son will no longer ask me to play with him, my youngest son will be off playing with his big brother and I will long for them to be at my feet begging for me to play.
I guess what I am trying to say is, the messes will always show up in one way or another. But the time we have with our little ones is fleeting.
Next time you are in the middle of a task and your toddler runs up to you with the request to build train tracks or watch him knock down the tall tower he built. Stop. Breath. Invite yourself to the present and remember that the mess can wait. I promise you won’t regret it.
