Guidelines for a Stay-Homer's Sanity - Part 10

-Disclaimer:  These are *Geoffrey Rush's Barbosa voice* "more guidelines than actual rules" and they are what I think will work best for our family.  Every family is different and so take these with a proverbial grain of salt.  To each mommy their own!-

Perhaps the most important rule for every living person, regardless of their career, their familial or marital status, or beliefs.  *Robin Williams' Genie voice* "Beeeeee yourself!"

In Rule #9, it talks about taking time to yourself to recharge your physical/mental/emotional/spiritual battery.  That hints at what I'm talking about here, but this goes much, much deeper.

Find and connect with the part of yourself that is not identified by being a wife and a mother.  We spend every waking moment (and, quite honestly, a lot of our sleeping hours too!) preoccupied with the lives of those we love and care for.  It is beyond easy to let our own identities wash away in the supportive role we are offering to them.

We become "Baby's Mommy" and "Mr.'s Wife" and stop referring or even thinking of ourselves of anything beyond that, and, sadly, it almost what is expected of a stay-home parent.  I say "Eff that Ess in the Aay!"  I am a person.  I have thoughts.  I have feelings.  I have opinions and passions and a personality that is just bursting out of my pores.  These are a part of what makes me a good wife and mother, so I'd better make sure I keep them!

One of the easiest ways to connect with YOU, is to have a hobby.  And as much as I love to write here on ViP, that's actually not what I mean.  This blog is all about my life and identity as a home maker.  I'm talking about doing something that has absitively posolutely nothing to do with Mr. and Baby J.  Not that I don't love them more than words, mind!  Just that I need something to be 100%, no-holds-barred, all encompassingly about me.  (Yes, in this specific instance, you are supposed to be selfish!)

So what is it?  *shrug*  I'm not too sure yet.  I have spent so much time focusing on getting to this point, to be home with my family and get to do all the things that I never had the time to do while I was a full time working mom, that I haven't quite figured out my "thing."  And that's fantastic!  This means I can explore my own brain in ways I never thought of before.  Maybe I'll paint?  Maybe I'll become a marathon runner?  Maybe I'll make strange yarn sculptures of cats out of yarn made of cat fur... (okay, that one's a little too weird, even for me.)

The point here is, get to know yourself outside of the roles you fill for others, and have fun doing it!  After all, "you've only got one life, make sure it's a happy one."