The more I considered the Write 31 Days challenge, the more I realized my theme can’t be narrowed down to one word. Trying to choose a category under which to file this during the challenge was excruciatingly difficult, since I write about “Faith & Inspiration,” but also “Family Life.”
As I struggled to narrow down my field, the more disheartened I grew. Another writer suggested I choose one word a day, and tie it back into my overarching theme of “motherhood.” It sounded like an intriguing idea, and I quickly decided to take that challenge.
Therefore, for the rest of October, I will be choosing a new word each day, and tying that into motherhood.
Today’s word is:
Structure
While we aren’t a family requiring to-the-minute scheduling, we do require a loose structure to our days. Aside from blogging, my other non-parenting adventure is teaching a children’s religious education (RE) class for the first time. During grad school, we were told, “for every hour of group you facilitate, expect to spend two hours preparing.” Essentially, double the amount of time you are leading a group during preparation. I have found that advice ringing true in preparing for this RE class.
Throughout this past week, I have been doing small preparations for the class. However, I didn’t prioritize sitting down to pre-watch the video segments. The previous weeks’ segments have only accumulated 15-20 minutes out of my day, so I thought I could take a simple 15 minutes out of my Saturday to view, use the notes I made earlier in the week, and run with a loose outline.
Like all best laid plans, things began going awry when Little Miss decided to join me for the videos.
As I watched the videos, I began realizing all the work I had done prior to Saturday had to be tweaked.
And, that is when I realized I am grateful for the loose structure I create as a parent.
The more I think back on time spent structuring my days, I recognize where my anxiety creeps into play. The more structured I try to be, the quicker I am to become angry when something disrupts the flow, as they often do with small children.
However, having a loose structure, where I don’t have to watch the time, and don’t cram more than one or two activities into my day allows me to be a better, more patient, more loving wife and mother.
I can’t say my low blood sugar didn’t impact my mood and overall excitement for others to be around yesterday, because I wound up working through lunch, and it wasn’t pretty. But, I was able to take a breath and collect myself, when plans were being upended, and afforded my family and myself a little better experience as I prepared for the class today.
Ultimately, I hope identifying, and maintaining, this perspective of keeping some structure, but ensuring it is loose structure, will allow me to meet my goal of 31 days of blogging.
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