I’ve gotten into this annoying habit of saying “What?” to everyone. To my children. To my husband. To my coworkers.
I don’t like it one bit, but I hear myself saying it all the ever-loving time.
It’s like my overloaded mommy brain just cannot handle one more bit of information, and so it stops up my ears completely.
And what I’m discovering is that this merry-go-round of busy motherhood doesn’t seem to have a stopping place. The horses just continue to dizzyingly go up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Same song. Same circle. Day in and day out.
Even the weekends are not exempt from the craziness. I find myself going through the motions of mothering throughout the week, waiting for that one precious break in the schedule where I can sneak away, cuddle up with my favorite cozy blanket, and relaaaaaax. Praying that my glorious moment of respite will not be hindered by any crusty boogers … or any other substance which might become a potential roadblock to a mother’s much-needed recreation. And subsequently, her state of well-being.
I GET STUCK IN SURVIVAL MODE INSTEAD OF LIVING FULLY MODE.
And so imagine my delight (and numerous sighs of relief) upon discovering Alli Worthington’s new book, Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy.
Alli gets it. She gets the crazy mom thing and our ever-changing ever-growing schedules. But unlike some of the gushier you-can-do-it parenting books, this girl tells it straight with a no-nonsense relatability moms will find refreshing and much needed. {One of my favorite stories, she tells how she tiredly tucked her cellphone in her bra before falling asleep in an airport shuttle, waking up having totally forgotten where she had put it. I won’t spoil the end of the story for you; you’ll just have to read it for yourself. But trust me, it’s a good one. So good I nearly spit hot coffee all over the poor elderly gentleman sitting beside me in the doctor’s office waiting room where I was reading.}
One of the things Alli addresses is the need to break the dangerous cycle of busyness we get ourselves into. She has lived out years that seemed like a blur. With no defining moments. The memorable times drowning in a sea of busyness. She also knows the pain and regret of missing out on those years.
When I was bored and lonely and trying to be supermom, I let my feelings and my circumstances convince me I’d be happier if I just kept busy, if I just kept pleasing others. But the more I strived, the more I focused on myself and my needs and my feelings, the more unhappy I became. However, when our life and financial circumstances forced me to focus on God instead of everything and everyone else (including myself), I became motived to live my life doing what God wanted me to do. [Breaking Busy, page 64]
…God reminds us that he offers us life – a rich, full, abundant life – free from striving for our own sense of perfection, a life resting in the assurance that we are already perfect because of the work he has done on the cross. [Breaking Busy, page 199]
Now that’s the kind of news you want to hear again and again.
Praise the Lord, we don’t have to stay stuck. There is hope for the rush-rush-go-go busy mama. Better yet, there’s hope for all of us.
Join us in congratulating Alli Worthington on her new book, Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace & Purpose in a World of Crazy. For more on Alli, click HERE. For more on her book, Breaking Busy, click HERE. Thanks, Alli, for sharing your message of hope with all of us!
Anne-Renee Gumley
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