The Mundane

A few years back I heard a word; a word that just stuck with me because of how perfectly it captured the concept behind it. This concept is a recurring theme in my life. It has become a part of my life and of the journey that I have chosen and embrace as a parent.

The word is mundane. I like to define the mundane as the ordinary, not-so-glamorous parts of life that we must complete to keep our current lifestyle moving forward. For me, the mundane is the part of life that you must do to survive. It is meeting needs, not necessarily wants. It is doing what is right in front of you instead of looking ahead and meeting a future goal or completing a special project. It often involves the practical parts of life.

For me, the mundane usually involves tasks like meal preparation, housework (both inside the house and out in the yard), purchasing and putting away food, paying bills and washing, drying and putting away copious amounts of laundry.

As a mother, I am completely at peace with living in the moments of the mundane… most of the time. After all, motherhood is an enormously high calling and all that it encompasses is vital and meaningful. I mean there are actually little human lives depending upon us and if we were to just stop choosing to complete the ordinary task of the day their little worlds would be sorely affected.

But there are times when do I ask myself, "isn't there more to this life than just meeting the needs of both myself and my family? What about identifying and pursuing some of the wants?"

This is a big question. And this is the part that is so important for humans and mothers specifically. Whether it be finding time to knit, sew, go for a run, attend a yoga class, meet a friend for coffee, go on a date with your husband, put your house in order, write a blog post, attend a birth, receive a massage, go for a haircut and many, many other seemingly insignificant pursuits, it is important to do something for ourselves out of the realm of the mundane.

Often times, after putting our family’s need above our own over and over again, we sometimes forget that which makes us feel extraordinary. I know that’s how it happened for me. After spending several back-to-back seasons in those precious and bittersweet months of survival mode after bringing a new baby into the family, it seemed as if I forgot what my interests were outside of breastfeeding, diaper changing, feeding and nurturing my little ones.

It really took some time to get back in touch with what my interests were and what it was that really allowed me to express myself creatively. It didn’t take long to identify the activities which energized and inspired me outside of living a full and abundant life with my family. And I had to promise myself that I would carve out bits of time for me to enjoy these pursuits.

I guess it’s all about balance. We hear that so often and often misunderstand what it means. I used to think that balancing one’s life meant giving equally divided time to all of the different parts of that life. Now I see that it isn’t about following a strict equation for splitting time, but about the heart attitude behind the choices we make each day. Each day presents its own unique callings and we have to choose deliberately and daily how and what we will give ourselves to. This, I have found is what balancing a mother’s life is all about.

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