Embrace them
[This article was first published on Tamil’s Substack.]
Welcome to my Home…Sweet…Home!
The house may look neat on the outside but prepare yourself to encounter pieces of play-dough or scattered animal toys in unexpected places. The doors and windows bear some creative sketches too.
The primary purpose of my home is to live and let live. The Parents shall live while allowing the kids to make beautiful childhood memories.
I don’t sweat keeping it sparkling clean for the visitors. Given a choice between organizing thoughts versus toys, I’d pick the thoughts, any day!
Sometimes, I surprise myself by doing unplanned things. Like, turning a weeknight into a movie night. Or celebrating a random day with a fudgy chocolate cake.
This helps me to escape the ordinary and makes me be more mindful of the blessings.
By now you may have guessed, I am anything but perfect!
All amazing things in life are not perfect either: Belly-aching laughter, sneaky smiles, naughty winks, overflowing joy, funny moments, heartfelt warmth, and the list goes on…
To pave the way to attain those moments frequently, we need to let go of the pressure and limitations that block our way in the name of perfection.
Our relationships, everyday plans, daily routines, family, career, and future fall into this imperfect circle.
The beauty of life lies in the uncertainty of the next moment. And yet, we focus our energy to make things appear perfect on the outside.
Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame. -Brene Brown.
How did I become a better-than-perfect Mom?
On my run days, I hop between the legos to grab my shoes and set off to run. when I am back, I follow the trail I created when I left home.
I have no shame in admitting that I choose running over cleaning the house.
When I became a mother, I made a vow to NOT let mommy shame steal my everyday joys of life.
I enjoy making sandcastles on the beach and getting soaking wet in the water parks with my kids. I encourage my kids to play in the puddles and dance in the rain.
My proud mommy moments include watching the kids playing in the park turning their white shirts brown.
There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one. -Jill Churchill.
We can learn about life only through play
When my 5-year-old daughter wanted to try indoor rock climbing for the first time, she was super scared. My husband and I took turns to convince her. But she had already made up her mind to quit.
Give up on something she had not even tried once?!
I couldn’t watch her do this.
So, I put on the rock climbing belt myself and climbed to the top. Boy, did I feel anything? Absolutely. I thought I was going to faint and fall flat. But, when I came down, my daughter had already decided to climb, and she did very well for the first time.
After that incident, I have seen her stunning stunts with rock climbing and adventure hikes.
Yesterday, my daughter gave me a lifeline[A line that permanently changed my life forever].
She saw me writing this story that said: “I am not a perfect Mom.” and her response was: “You are the best, Mom. Actually, you are better than perfect.”
BINGO! She nailed it!
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” -Marilyn Monroe.
So, stop sweating about being the perfect one. Start becoming a real one, instead! Better late than never! 😇
Please share in the comments, how you embrace imperfection in your life? I would love to know more.
© Tamil, 2022
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A huge shout out to Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles for this beautiful post about peanut butter, compliments, laughter, and what they all have in common. I enjoyed every bit of it and you should too!
Another beautiful post by Drashti Shroff about how not everything falls into plain black or white!
My Magic Bytes 
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