I don’t know how many times I have uttered these words… in a time of stress and frustration.  So many times I have lofty ideas of what I would love to be able to do, and I just can’t seem to do it consistently.  In a time of thousands of blogs and websites, it’s easy to think that what is right for someone else, is right for my family (like I mentioned in my last post).  But, what if I have this passion and desire to do this, this, and this, and I just can’t seem to do it?  For me, through the years, the reason why was because I just jumped into it fully… and making changes is a baby-step-journey.

I make all of my bread and bread products from scratch now, I am able to meal plan consistently, I enjoy making healthy/real foods, and my house is clean much of the time (though not all of the time… right now it’s a mess). It has taken me about 5 years of working on these things to get to a point of consistency… and the way that I did that was by completely starting over and adding a few things at a time.  I still have a long way to go before I am able to do all that I would like to do!  It’s a journey.  Everything in life is a journey.  And, I may not ever be able to consistently be able to do “do it all” because life is life and I am human.

May I give some suggestions?  (I am going to do this too, and we can share!!)

• Take a step back.
• Think of all the things that you wish you were doing right now.  Make a list.
• Take a deep breath, and accept God’s grace and love in your heart.  You don’t have to be doing those things for God to love you, your family to love you, and to be a good mom.
• Okay, now that we got that out of the way, process your motivations for wanting to do these things.  Write them down.
• Look back at your list and see what meets your goals immediately.  Choose one thing.
• Start the process to make this change.  Spend several weeks getting into a routine with it, enjoying it, and becoming an expert at it.
• Once you feel that you are consistent with this and it is part of your normal routine, choose another thing to focus on…
• Repeat

Yes, it may take years to get to where you would like to be… and that’s okay.  Life is a journey.  We are imperfect beings, and we can’t do it all.  Enjoy learning and growing and stop feeling guilty!!  You are loved!!