#1 Always keep the receipt.
Here's proof of payment, proof of a mother's work.
There are many ways to capture the difference between those who have young children and those who do not, and the past two years of the pandemic dramatically brought those differences to light.
I'm a creator and builder. I like to create and build things. I build brands through visuals, storytelling, mission statements and operations. I create blankets, sweaters, hats, mittens, and all the knit things. But these last two years (TWO YEARS! Can you believe it?!?) It feels like I have built nothing. Because the experience of raising little humans feels like being a sieve. All of your kids’ wants, needs, demands, joys, heartaches run through you like fine sand. You’re the necessary filter that is there to feed, wipe, hug, fix, plan, nurture in response to their needs; and yet, at the end of the day, you’re left with nothing tangible to hold on to — nothing to show for all of the mental, physical, emotional energy you put into your family.
And the pandemic has had me in sieve mode 127% of the day.
That's why my word this year is BUILD.
I'm not expecting anything different from the pandemic, but I am reframing how I think about my days. Even with unexpected sick days, snow days, and quarantine days, I realize that at the end of these days, when the littles are tucked into bed, I scroll through my camera roll and I find this grid of images that imperfectly capture the moments and experiences I have built with my day. They don't capture everything, but they give me a tangible receipt of moments I have created, however mundane.
It makes me wonder, what if life is simply the collecting and building of these moments?
Whatever your days are filled with, imagine units of building blocks, not unlike the squares on your camera roll, that collectively build into something incredible. This helps me to vision and manifest a 2022 that feels creative — that feels like I’m building something.
Here’s what I “built” this week, based on my camera roll as of Friday (incl. dealing with plumbing issues, a “snow” day where all the kids were home, with not a single snowflake to be seen, some bedtime shenanigans, a journal entry to share with a friend, lots of videos of the babes chewing... literally just chewing their food.)
Do you have a word of the year? I'd love to hear. Email or comment below.