To the Mama Wondering “Am I Enough?”

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Today was one of those days.

You know the days. The one where you find yourself counting down the minutes until bedtime (yours and the kids’) and waiting for a do-over tomorrow. The one where you find yourself running through a list in your head of all the ways you failed to give 100% today. The one where you feel like you’ve dropped every single ball you have in the air.

The one where you find yourself questioning, “Am I doing enough?” Or worse yet, you find yourself wondering,  “Am I enough?”

Sometimes, it’s hard to have the grace to forgive myself for falling short of my self-imposed standards.  Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that I have my hand in so many different things that a ball is bound to get dropped now and again. Sometimes it’s easy to snap at my children, to miss a deadline at work, or to cut out of a 4:00 p.m. volunteer meeting before it’s wrapped up so I can make it to daycare pickup in time. Sometimes, all three of those things happen on the same day.

But despite it all, I choose to remind myself: “Yes, I am enough.”

And Mama, you are enough too.

I was lucky enough to be raised by a woman who told me every day that I am strong, beautiful, kind–and that I am, without a doubt, always enough. Heck, she still finds ways to remind me of that most days. And somewhere along the line, I guess she got through to me. Because at the end of a day like today, where I find myself questioning if I’m good enough at this working-mama-to-2-kid gig, I hear my own mama’s voice in my head, answering with a resounding “yes.”

But mama, just in case you need a reminder from someone on the outside looking in, I am here to tell you that you are enough, too.

To the mom who is juggling her career alongside motherhood and who is struggling to find the right balance – you are enough.

To the mom who stays home all day raising her babies, who hasn’t washed her hair in days and who decided to order a pizza instead of fixing a home cooked meal – you are enough.

To the mom who has lost touch with old friends because motherhood feels so exhausting and all-encompassing most days – you are enough.

To the mom who is wrangling an infant and a toddler in the grocery store and can’t take one more second of the crying and screaming – you are enough.

To the mom who hasn’t seen the inside of a gym in months and is struggling with her postpartum body image – you are enough.

To the mom questioning if she is doing the right thing by adding a second child to her family – you are enough.

To the mom who sometimes lets her kids eat ice cream for dinner after a long day (is that just me?) – you are enough.

To the mom of teenagers, who is wondering when her babies turned into giants, and who asks herself every day if she has prepared her children well enough to take on the world on their own – you are enough.

To each and every mama reading this, regardless of what balls you feel like you may have dropped today – you are enough.

So let this be a simple reminder, from one overtired mom to another – those little ones worship the ground that you walk on, no matter how many times you feel like you’ve tripped or missed a step.

In the eyes of your beautiful children, you are always enough.

1 COMMENT

  1. I am so glad to see your well written words. You are an amazing mom and wife and career woman and friend. I hope that every woman can feel this support from someone in their lives.

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