Is this all there is??? - Page 2

[Jenlaana]

I love my daughter and wouldn't want anyone else to take care of her... but this is a thousand times harder than my job that I left was. My house is a disaster and there are ALWAYS tons of dirty dishes and dirty laundry. If I was putting myself first and not thinking about my daughter, I would be back at work in a heartbeat. But this is whats best for her, and she is really thriving and happy, and thats what keeps me going when we have our tough days.

[Rigama]

Not sure if this quite fits or not, but I've been feeling a lot of that "is this all there is to life" stuff myself and since I deal with my stuff by reading...well I'm currently reading Perfect Madness Motherhood in the age of anxity by Judith Warner. I'm not sure what I think about it yet, since I'm not quite 1/4 through, but so much of it is ringing true with me. All the pressures we moms have to be/do everything. The expectation that we will put our personal needs on hold for the sake of sacrificing for our families, the extreme pressures of being the one solely responsible for our children's emotional, mental and phyiscal health, their education and their "sociaization". It's exhausting and overwhelming! And though I don't "get" some of the issues that are brought up by some of the mother's interviewed (all upper middle class, so different worries for them!) I do get a lot of it. So far. There are also a lot of things that I willingly do because I WANT to that are listed as examples of stressing/sacrificing (EBF, Co-slept, homeschool), so I take what I can and leave what I don't need and am placated in the knowledge that I'm not the only woman out there who feels frazzled and "empty" from all the giving. Neither are you. Guess that's just a long winded way of saying "I hear ya, sister!" Sorry if that was a hijack

Rigama