Stress Stinks

Ok, I will!

Give a man a %*&!-load of stress and he might, say, get grumpy. Or throw something, hammer something, or go hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. But a woman under the same load of anxious worry can get amazing things done. Like clean a kitchen from top to bottom (at 11pm). Or clean a bathroom until she can see herself shine in the sink fixtures (at midnight). Or piece an entire quilt (at 1am). Or write a blog post (at 2:30am) that she might look at with a cocked head and a confused look the next day. Anyway, you get my point.

I have been thinking tonight about the conundrum of mother/wife/woman-hood. I know this subject gets lots of mileage among any circle of women, but, like any cliché, it exists for a reason. You have something (marriage, children, maturity) that is inherently a really good thing, but sometimes it is so darn hard that it makes one question it's worth, or one's ability to endure it.

My sister told me that she recently had an experience with our wise Grandfather which helped her get a second Mommy wind. (Grandpa, as a matter of resumé on the subject, has been married for 65 years, raised 11 children, and has had a tremendous influence for good on his fifty-something grandchildren and bajillions of great-grandchildren) She and I have been having lots of conversations about families and the work we are doing to raise ours the best way we know how. And how all we mommies really want to do is instill in our children a deep sense of faith and belief in the teachings of the Savior, but how difficult that can be when so many forces (like those very children we are trying to teach!) make it seem like an uphill battle. Our Grandpa, who isn't always totally lucid these days, became very clear when she was talking to him about this and reminded her that if a Mother gives up, then evil has won.

How true, how true. So I am going to pull myself up by my bootstraps tomorrow morning and remember that my (small) moment of (big) stress is just another little hiccup, and nothing to indulge in words like "failure" and "doomed" and "I suck" over.

And, if I need a little extra push in the positive vibe department, I will watch this again. To listen to this man is to witness a miracle in human behavior. I hope you learn as much from it as I have.