Jenny one, mom two

You’ve got to be yourself first, and everything else second.

A simple idea that sparked this whole thing. This mission to become a better version of myself. Or I suppose you could say getting back to being myself again. I wasn’t always a neurotic stress-consumed control freak. Ok, I kind of was (haha), but my mental wellbeing really took a nosedive a couple years ago. And I desperately wanted to find some chill and enjoy my evolving role in this world. 

Let me make one thing ABUNDANTLY clear. I love being a mom. Love it. I always pictured myself with children and I’m so freaking in love with these tiny humans it’s indescribable.

But, somewhere along the way - between momming / wife-ing / life-ing / adulting in general -  I kinda stopped paying attention to the things that made me ‘me’.

The things that brought me childlike joy. The things that made me feel whole and (somewhat) calm and complete. The things that set my soul on fire. Those things? They slowly faded into the background while I was busy being who everyone else needed me to be. And it all happened so slowly, I wasn’t even conscious of the fact that it was happening - or that I was allowing it to.

Now, to be clear, I can’t totally pin this all on motherhood. But this is something that really started to manifest itself once someone started calling me “mom”. And to some degree, I think it’s something all moms experience at one time or another - especially in the beginning. There is supposed to be a certain amount of sacrifice that comes along with parenthood. That is one hundred percent necessary.

But I’m trying to figure out the difference between self-neglect and graceful sacrifice.

And that, my friends, is how “Jenny one, mom two” came about.

This blog is by no means a road map of how to live your life. In fact, it’s much more of a road map to getting it wrong alongside a glimpse into my ever-evolving journey to try to get it right. But if you take away one thing, my hope is this: you’ve gotta be you first and everything else second. If you already know how to do that, cool. This blog might not be your jam. But if you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions and you’re barely keeping your head above water? I got you. If you keep finding the things that you KNOW you need the most are constantly falling to the bottom of your never-ending list, you are not alone. But you need a change. And so do I. While I may not be certain of exactly how to do this, I’m bound and determined to navigate life with baby number three with a little more grace and a lot more sanity. 

So what will you find here? Some mom stuff, some life stuff, stuff that’s working for me and stuff that’s not. All in the hopes that you can relate, and our lives can all be a little bit better when we’re in it together.