You. Are. Enough.

With the Summer holidays now upon us, I thought this was worth a reshare...

No, I'm not talking to you (although you are), this is not a positive affirmation to myself, I'm talking to my children.  Yesterday I was bouncing around on the trampoline with my little monkeys, they love a bounce, we were giggling away and then it hit me...you're enough my darlings. There is nowhere I'd rather be right now, nowhere.

We were having a quiet afternoon at home and I felt unusually content. We often spend Monday afternoons at home on our own. It gives us time to adjust to the fun of the weekend winding down and move from a family of four to a family of three again.  I can potter about and the kids, with full love cups after lots of Daddy time, are quite happy playing on their own, ish.  Sometimes my mind wanders to what all the other Mums' I know are doing now, imagining them on awesome play dates and trips or making creative and imaginative crafts, while my kids have been looking for bugs in the back garden and watching telly...but I read something that really struck a chord with me the other day, 'we always compare the worst of ourselves, to the best of others.' (www.becomingminimalist.com)

I have to confess I am guilty of thinking the grass is greener. I try desperately not to be like this and work hard at being mindful and it is getting better but let's face it, being a Mum means drinking less and staying in more and doing lots of chores and yes sometimes, I want more!

It's taken me a long time to get to this point, this realisation that I'm actually hanging out with two of my favourite people in the world every day. Lucky me.  I can now try and stop thinking everyone is having way more fun than me, leading a more exciting or exotic life than me, is doing something more important than me. I see people doing so much in their day to day lives, I sometimes question if I'm doing enough? But I realised I don't have to save the world on a daily basis, I just need to keep spreading the love to those around me. Kindness is kindness and it goes such a long way. I can reach out to a new Mum at a stay and play, smile at a Mum in the street, lift a buggy up the stairs at the station, help a Mum and her kids onto the bus, these little things make all the difference to their day and mine.

Being a Mum is important, being a child is important, you are enough my darlings, sometimes you're more than enough. X

Doula love

Jenna

@theminimalistdoula

Jenna Rutherford