Keeping Perspective

I am a stay at home Mom.  First and foremost, and I am damn proud of it.  My oldest is seventeen and my youngest is eleven; so I have been at this job for a little more than seventeen years, and I am very good at it.  I volunteer at all of the kids' schools, I'm on all of the right committees, go to all of my kids' functions, and even quite a few for kids that aren't even "mine", but in my heart they are.

Over the last few years, okay maybe a decade now (my how time flies when you're having fun), I have decided to start various llama related businesses.  All of them for various reasons, but each of them evolving from my passions; they come from my very heart and soul.  My love of animals and the environment; specifically our little piece of paradise here in Colorado that I feel holds some sort of spellbinding beauty and tranquility.  So, my love of writing fit in quite naturally.

Yesterday morning, the kids and I were talking about something that got me worked up, and I lost my words (a pretty typical side effect of seizure meds) and I saw the light bulb go off over the head of my seventeen year old son.  He finally realized why I like blogging so much.  He says "Mom, you don't have to struggle for words when you blog, do you?  You can think it through, and take your time, right?"  Bingo!

So, what does all of this have to do with keeping perspective?  A lot, for me anyway.  Because when you are going through a hard time in your life, and I'm sorry to say, but I don't know many people right now who aren't going through a hard time, keeping perspective is of utmost importance.  Remembering what you are made of, and what you are trying to accomplish is of utmost importance.  And doing what makes you feel good and keeping your thoughts straight is imperative!

This all came about in sort of a weird way.  I have not made a secret out of our struggles, financially; and in a way, in my mind I had put the pressure on myself and my businesses to get us out of this rut that we were in.  Big mistake.  Too much pressure.  Too little time.  Many of my ideas like Naked~Nure and my book are too new to have gauged if they will be successful or not.

So, when Tom steps in, gets his overtime back and things start looking okay again; instead of me being happy, it sends me into a tailspin.  What the hell is wrong with me?  Most people would be ecstatic to know that they didn't have to work if they don't want to, right?  Well, we all already know the answer to that; I do NOT fit the description of "most people".

I felt as if I had been banging my head against the wall for naught.  As silly as that sounds, it's true.  And I've got to tell you, it confused the hell out of my poor husband!  But, give me a couple days of my pity party to think things through, and I realized that we were right back where we were supposed to be.  This was our plan all along.  My businesses are the type that take years to grow, and build on business relationships that may take years to foster.  

We both knew this going in, we have openly discussed it many times, I guess I just conveniently forget those things when I feel like throwing myself a pity party.  The point is people, keeping perspective may be difficult during, well, difficult times, but it is essential.  And if you don't have years to build a business, than don't go into something obscure like llama related businesses or writing and publishing childrens books-ha!  No really, I still believe that you need to follow your passions, and I am so blessed with the fact that Toms job has allowed us to do just that...so again, it's just all in the angle you see things.