Working on My New Normal

Lots has changed in the last year.  And we are moving into a season where we know will be filled with even more change.  It’s hard to look at what we have right now – knowing that in three years, it will likely be completely different.

Otto and I are working on our new normal.  This summer, I took a pretty big leap of faith and put myself in a small group with five other women.  I knew one of them well enough to call her a good friend (but not close enough to hang out at each other’s houses), two I would call “school friends” that I would talk to during preschool, but not really much outside of that, and two I didn’t know at all.

For three months, we went through “The Best Yes” by Lysa TerKeurst.  And we came out the other side vastly different.  I gained a group of women who walk into my home without knocking and would do my laundry if I had an emergency. But in that bible study, I lost a lot, also.  I was challenged to look at what God wanted for me and my family, and then say my “best” yes.

Sometimes we say yes – and it’s not WRONG or BAD, but it prevents us from giving our best.  As a mum, I find myself feeling like I *need* to say yes to so many *GOOD* things, but then I am worn out and tired when it’s time to say yes to the *BEST* things.  So I started to say “not at this time” and “I’m sorry, but my schedule doesn’t allow me to take on that responsibility” and hardest “no, I am not in the season of my life to be able to help you with that”.

I am down to three major commitments outside my home: I’m the Troop Coordinator for GO’s American Heritage Girl Troop, I am Went’s Room Mum, and I serve at the Kids Sign-In Desk for an hour on Sunday mornings.  That’s it.  Everything else I say “yes” to is a one-time deal, and has only short-term commitments.

It’s hard.  I know B10 and CW miss their scouting (though, that decision was made with 100% of their input, and they had their own reasons for wanting to step back themselves), but at the same time – we have had more family days.  More time to sit around and laugh and talk and just BE together.  I miss being a part of our local Mom Group, but find myself soaking in the time I have with my Best Yes Girls.  I realize that my dream of finishing my Master’s Degree has become much further away, and could very likely never happen.  Which is disappointing, but necessary.

I’m stepping back.  I’m re-evaluating everything, and praying it through with Otto.  What does this season look like for us?  What does it look like for me?  Where are my priorities?

I’m coming back stronger, it’s simply going to take a while to figure out my new normal.

Until then, every sunrise is a blessing.

~Mummy Butterfly  )i(