The hardest thing.

The most difficult aspect of my life as a stay-at-home parent is finding a way to feel good about myself. I used to be confident; I knew I was awesome. Nowadays, I am constantly looking for validation that I am doing well in my life, some kind of affirmation that I am still just a little bit wonderful. Let's face it, kids are not the most consistent and effective providers of positive feedback. I am insecure about parts of my body and my character that I would never have wasted a second on before my kids were born. I knew I was imperfect, but I LIKED myself. The thing I liked most about myself? My confidence. The trait I find most repelling in another person? Insecurity. Ugh. The fact that I am even writing this down for other to read makes me want to vomit, because I HATE compliment-fishers, and that is NOT at ALL what I am doing here. I am working hard at NOT becoming the kind of person that annoys me so much, but I am finding it really difficult in my current line of work. I thought some of you might be able to empathize.

Comments

[Kristin Hanes]

I can't empathize because I don't have kids, but I could imagine it would be hard. I think a lot of us get our validation from our line of work, and that doesn't come very often when you're raising kids. Seems like a lot of the world maybe doesn't see it as "work" even though its the hardest job in the world, so then you don't get a lot of outside validation. Keep your head up, you're awesome! :))