Tips To Stay Full

Photo by Parisa191/freedigitalphotos.net

I recently wrote a post about the importance of us mommas avoiding depletion as we constantly pour our lives into our families. A reader suggested I make a list of tips for staying full of life, or the good stuff you could call it, in order to continue giving our families the best.

I’ll start with one of the many times in my life when I had allowed myself to, simply stated, fall apart. This was about 9 months ago. Y’all, I was struggling.

Let me set the scene. My fourth baby was about 7 months old. We were in the full swing of home school, the baby still nursed around the clock, he didn’t sleep at night or for naps, and was HIGH MAINTENANCE. There just wasn’t much that made that little guy happy. At the time, I was also packing and planning our first Disney trip. This is something we had looked forward too for so long and diligently saved our money for. I was trying so hard to put on a happy face.

Typically once my other children hit the 6 month mark I would start to feel somewhat functional again. This time, that didn’t happen. I optimistically kept thinking, OK things are about to turn around…Hopefully the Disney trip will kind of reset us if you will. Boy, was I wrong.

The trip was amazing! The children did great and we all had a lot of fun. But then, there was the,” AFTER TRIP.” Every child including my husband and I stayed sick for an entire 2 and a half months. From urgent care trips, around the clock nebulizer treatments, to the time we tried to get out of the house and feel normal and a little one puked in the back seat.

I came head on with a mini depression. I had the past several months of overdoing it with a fussy infant in my back pocket, along with 4 sick children 6 and under for almost three months to put me over the edge. If I had taken the steps to take care of myself during those times of learning my baby then I feel as though I would have been better equipped to care for my sick babies. I was a mess. I was crying all the time, exhausted, weak mentally and physically, and felt like I was going crazy. This all may seem so trivial, but when you’re in the thick of it you feel like you’ll never climb out.

I decided I had to do something to get that old, full of life Brittany back. It started slow, but with help from God I was able to clear the fog that I had let settle in my mind and find a home.

Here is how I did it.

– I prayed little prayers. I’ll be honest, I remember telling my husband, “I don’t want to pray or read my Bible!” Deep down I knew that there was healing in that. I would pray simple prayers all day such as, “Help me make it through this day” or even in frustration, “Ugh just please let something go right today!” God has the situation, it’s just hard to see it at the time.

This is why we must walk closely with God for the inevitable times like this. His powerful word and communication are so transforming when you’re in a valley and are pertinent to staying full for all of the curve balls of life!

-I got off my butt. As soon as nap time would start (Even though for the baby that was maybe 5 minutes) I would run out the door as fast as I could down the cul-de-sac and back. It didn’t matter if I had on flip-flops and jeans with my hair down blowing in the wind. This refreshed my soul. I’m not sure how, but it helped.

I wasn’t strong enough physically when all of the sickness came because I hadn’t prepared myself. I wasn’t staying active, so when my family went down I went with them.

-I started taking some vitamins. I had not been taking care of myself while nursing. I was depleted nutritionally and that only added to everything else.

We have to realize we are only going to feel as good as the food we put in our mouth. If your anything like me, that handful of chocolate chips sure does help when the kids are acting like a bunch of wild people. I had to keep reminding myself that long-term I wasn’t doing myself or them any favors through the indulgence of my sweet tooth.

-I stopped taking life so serious. I can’t tell you how many times I had to throw on some music and just dance it out, running man and all. In fact I have a video I took of the baby on my hip screaming while I’m dancing around in the kitchen to, “I will survive.”

Perspective will help you see your glass as half full. Really! When we tell ourselves, “One day at a time,” or try to point out any good through the day we will naturally stay ahead of the game.

-I talked to my momma and my husband a lot. Poor things! They literally just listened to me whine, offered encouragement when needed, and validated my feelings.

A support system is crucial to set up. We women love to talk. Find others you can have deep meaningful conversations with. Add to the goodness of each others lives. It’s so good for the soul. When life throws you a curve ball you have some ears to listen and talk it out to.

-Read some good books. I grabbed some motherhood books and got lost in them. This helped me keep my  mind off everything going wrong around me.

When we get some good books going we are able to get fresh ideas, and gain new perspectives. It takes some habit-forming to keep a book close by. This is something I have been working on to help stretch my brain.

I will be going back and adding to this list. I may even do a little video about it:) If you have any tips you use please share! This is a small list that has helped me in big ways. Everyone’s list will look different.

Take care of yourselves mommas! That’s one of the best gifts we can give our children. Let your life run over.

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