Forgiving Ourselves and Finding Balance
Prioritizing Ourselves
The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to reflect on priorities and how they impact our day to day decision making. I had the opportunity to do so this week. This week I published our weekly school newsletter, Tuesday Newsday, on Wednesday. On Tuesday, my schedule was so full that I did not have a chance to sit down and write our newsletter until 7 pm. And I had not yet eaten dinner. I stopped to think "How important is it?" I decided that delivering our news one day late was ok if it meant I would be well fed and well rested. I prioritized myself.
Choosing Quality over perfection
Many years ago I would not have been able to do this. I have a bit of a perfectionist streak and didn't use to allow myself to fail to meet expectations. In my wise 54th year, I am learning to be easier on myself, accept mistakes I may make, and choose quality of life over perfection.
learning from our mistakes
In my teacher training, I was taught that it is ok for the teacher to make mistakes. It is important for students to see adults make mistakes, own up to them and then either learn from them or correct them. This is all good modeling for our children. Perfectionism or being overly hard on ourselves can paralyze us and prevent us from being successful. Being able to move through mistakes or to accept that an outcome may look different than what we planned is a valuable lesson.
Forgiving ourselves
I hope that all of you are able to be easy on yourself and recognize that you are doing the best you can. Parenting is a particularly difficult job. I give you permission to forgive yourselves for making mistakes and for not always getting everything done to perfection on time, every time, and I hope that you sometimes find ways to prioritize yourself.
