Tag: mom

World Autism Awareness Day

Managing my Anxiety

So because anxiety always pops up uninvited, I had to learn some combat skills to keep it from ruining my life. I could be having a great day… and then those crazy thoughts come out of no where. Thoughts like somethings going to go wrong soon or thoughts of people that have been nothing but kind to me will betray me soon. I’ve gotten tired of these thoughts ruining happy moments for me so I begin to get to the root of them.

  • First thing I do is remind myself that NOTHINGS HAPPENED. I’ll be sitting there worried about things that haven’t even happened.
  • Secondly, I think of all the possible outcomes of what I’m worried about. I’ve found that the worst case scenario is something I can live with.

For instance, I had terrible anxiety a couple of weeks ago because I hadn’t renewed plate sticker because my car wasn’t passing the emissions test. After I sorted through all the anxiety, I calmed myself by remembering that the worst case scenario is that I will get a ticket…and I can pay a ticket.

Anxiety is always an inconvenience and there is never a good time for it to show up. However, I am determined to continue to fight for the good life that exists beyond anxiety.

Single Parent Rant

Day in and Day out I move to the beat of an internal alarm clock. You see in my life nothing can have a minimized importance as everything is operates like a machine, and if one part isn’t functioning the entire machine will cease to work. From getting up at 6:45am to make sure Christian is ready when the school bus arrives, so that I can in turn start working, so that I can afford to pay bills, pay for cool preteen haircuts and clothing and do all the of the things necessary to run a household. And though this juggling act can be redundant, it can also be full of surprises.

I hate to sound whiny, but almost always the surprises are unpleasant. Surprises like my check engine light coming on when I start my car, or waking up with a body ache(which makes me move slower). However, like always super mom powers through and things work out. There’s just one thing(sigh)… I get tired sometimes. There’s so many have to do’s in life and very few want to do’s. For example, I WANT to go get a pedicure and not feel guilty about the 2 hours I spend doing it. I also WANT to go get a cup of coffee and not feel guilty about spending $5 on it.

Overall, most of my gripes can be lumped into the category of single parent ranting. With that being said I’ll close by saying that being a parent is the best and most meaningful gift I’ve ever received and that all of my griping will one day be cool stories to share with my grandchildren.

Sigh…

As I sit here slumped down on the couch, I can’t help but to feel guilty for wanting just 1 more day of rest. Another day of getting up after the sun has risen and not before. Why oh why does the weekend seem like Saturday is the only day that you can fully enjoy? Friday you spend winding down from the week and Sunday you spend preparing for Monday.

Sigh…and now I feel guilty for complaining because a lot of people wish that had the life that I have. Ok, I’m done complaining; my super mom cape is hanging in the closet still warm from me just taking off. After 6 hours of sleep super mom will back in action!

The “B” Word

balance

Hello there! So I thought that maybe we could do a refresher course on a topic I touch on periodically but apparently in the past few weeks forgot to incorporate into my own life…again.

 Like every year around this time, trees began to thin out, jackets are pulled to the front of the closet and our little darlings go back to school. All of this means lots of small changes to our schedules and takes some readjusting. The catch to managing all of this is to remember that lots of little things combined make bigger things.

While multi-tasking and micromanaging everything I forgot to include one ingredient into this cake of life; I forgot to include some time for myself. For the past couple of days I’ve been emotional and found it took longer to make fairly simple decisions, so today when Christian I got home I sat on the sectional and began to pondering about what was causing this sudden change. This proved to be a tricky task because no single thing stuck out as being wrong. I went down my list of everything that I was doing and noticed that nothing included something just for me. Once again I’m reminded that we can get so wrapped up in taking care of everyone else that we forget to take care of ourselves. This almost always leads to a meltdown of some kind. Fortunately I figured this out in time to do something about it without disrupting the flow of my family life.

In conclusion friends, don’t forget to take care of you. Believe it or not there is a such thing as a BALANCE between loving ourselves and our families at the same time.We love our families so much and wouldn’t want to let them down because we’ve let ourselves down.

Decisions Are All They’re Cracked Up To Be

Today after I picked Christian up from school we stopped at a gas station we recently discovered. This particular gas station has two restaurants inside, so before getting gas we decided to look at the menu. We’re both big fans of Mexican food so it was almost a no brainer to order tacos to go. However, before I ordered I asked Christian if he wanted tacos. After all he can talk and a little over a year ago started to give his input as to what we ate. After asking him what he wanted to eat I discovered he wanted pizza instead.

It’s such a natural reaction as a parent to make all of the decisions because we have to run our households. However, I was reminded today that as our kids grow, it’s important to let them share their opinions and make decisions. Life is full of decisions and because being able to make good ones is so important practicing make them, no matter how small they are, can only help in the long run. I guess as a parent I grew a little today.

You Have a Friend

A couple of days ago I met a woman that said she didn’t know anyone else that had an autistic child. I immediately gave her the A.B.L.G.O website information as I wouldn’t want anyone to feel they are alone and without friends that can relate to their experiences with their loved ones on the spectrum. Through good and not so good times we can all stand together as we all have the same desired outcome for our loved ones…great childhoods and bright futures. We can all benefit from each others experiences and gain knowledge from story swapping. A.B.L.G.O is fortunate to have such a great group of followers and supporters and so from me to you I want to extend a big hug and let you know that you have a friend to stand with you on the spectrum.