Posts Tagged ‘perfection’

Stop Sleeping on the Bedspread

Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

Messes weren’t allowed when I was a kid.

Just about every night I would sleep on top of my bedspread. I did it because I didn’t want to mess up my bed. If I pulled the covers back, I automatically felt stressed because my room wasn’t picture perfect like my mom expected it to be. For my little brother and me, playing with our toys involved nothing but aggravation from our mom. We had great toys and lots of them but taking them off the shelf opened her up to feeling like our whole house was out of sorts. For her, cleanliness was her euphoria.

I grew up with an enormous amount of pressure to be perfect.

Now that it’s almost Christmas time, the messiest time of the year. Somebody NEEDS to read this post. Somebody needs to lighten up on their kids, their self and the world.

clean it

I didn’t realize the pressure I grew up with until I brought my own kids home to my mother’s house when they were little. Instead of playing and having fun with them as they toddled around her perfect house, she followed them step for step straightening up every single thing they touched. Don’t get me wrong, her house was beautiful. Everything had a place and it was never out of that place unless my little chubby fingered kids touched it. It drove her crazy.

I would observe her as she followed them around and every “No no” transported me back in time to my own childhood with her. She was fanatical about our house and things. She loved having everything appear just as if it were a photograph in a magazine. For a kid, that’s NO FUN DUDES! Totally, no fun at all.

In case you didn’t know, there is a huge difference in a dirty house and a messy one.

A dirty house that hasn’t been cleaned is gross. A messy house is a house that people live in and use.

Whatever you’re doing as the mom in your family, be the kind who knows how to have a good time. Don’t place unrealistic pressure on your kids and family. Figure out how to enjoy the chaos. There’s NOTHING wrong with having a clean house but for goodness sakes – give your family the freedom to wreck the place and party it up.

Take it from me, you don’t want to leave your kids with a forever memory of sleeping on top of the bedspread.

chaos

Just Do It

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

I’ve had a very interesting discussion with my son tonight.  After a little rant (me venting my frustration) about a certain high school student NOT doing class assingments, he explained to me her thinking.  Which is good, I suppose.  Because, otherwise I envision laziness and irresponsibility to be the problem and that makes me crazy mad!

I’m driven, hardworking and obnoxiously anal about EVERYTHING!!  Can you tell?

I suffer from a sick inability to ‘loosen up and let live’ around my house.  I wish for my people to be the best they can be and if they’re slacking…..I feel success slipping away and I hate it!  I guess it’s all psychological for me.  I wasn’t allowed to be lazy or neglectful and  I was scared of consequences.

I wanted to please.  I still do.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the ADD mind.  No matter how long I’m surrounded by them….I’m just not wired to get it.  Luckily for them (and me) God doesn’t need me to understand it.  That’s not my job.

For such a time as this…..He has placed these people in my life and trusted me with their hearts.  What I do with them is up to me.  So, instead of beating them up with my frustration and harsh words–I think I’ll choose to BUILD THEM UP & REMIND THEM JUST HOW AWESOME/UNIQUE THEY ARE!

Just the way GOD made them to be.

Lord,

I’m sorry for the pressure I put on my loved ones.  Help me to focus on what is most important, YOU!

Amen