Married Working Mothers: One Word!

I confess, I did not make any New Years Resolutions. None, no not one!

Did you?

Honestly my life is too busy. I don't have any available minutes in any of my days to add another task. My 'Guilt-o-meter' is measuring past its maximum capacity, I refuse to add another responsibility to feel guilty about when I fail to to achieve it. Sadly, all of my thoughts are taken, I can't think one more thought, my brain is full! Only pre-existing thoughts are allowed.... Potty training, early school dismissals, body rashes, inappropriate dance moves learned on the playground.

Chipped nails but they are painted nonetheless...
Jeez my fingers look fat!

And so I have no resolutions. I am not surprised. Two years ago, I only had one resolution. My resolution was to keep my nails painted. Here is a picture of what my nails look like today. I am still attempting to keep that resolution by the skin of my teeth!

Upon returning to work after the Christmas holidays, my administrator (I will love her forever, you know who you are), mandated her staff to choose one word. She emailed a link about a book written by Jon Gordon which suggests a simple act.

Click on the link below.

http://getoneword.com/todayshow/

For those of you who may not be able to watch the link, the author Jon Gordon suggests we choose one word that will guide all of our actions for the entire year.

Courtesy of www.barnesandnoble.com

Courtesy of itunes.apple.com

It took me a few days but eventually I decided on a word. My word is (insert drum roll here)...

Courtesy of drmsales.com

Courtesy of lowe-mark.co

Like all of you I have many roles. Each one of my roles has many responsibilities. On any given day I am overwhelmed.

At 4:45 a.m. when my alarm goes off I function in my role as woman. This means I do what it takes to get dressed and look like a woman, hair, makeup, appropriate clothes etc. At 6:00 a.m. I function in my role as a mother by getting the kids up in order to prepare them for school. At 8:00 a.m. I transfer into my role as teacher, specialist team leader, colleague and friend until 3:15 p.m. I look forward to the minutes from 3:15 p.m. to 3:35 p.m.. This is when I enjoy my role as woman as I blast rap music on the way to picking up my children since this is the only time alone in the car. I satisfy my role as mother and housekeeper until 7:30 p.m. as I balance homework, laundry, sweeping and tidying up. At 9:00 p.m. I muster the energy to perform in my role as wife wondering if I can somehow find more time to be Tiffany the woman! (I need more rap music in my life!)

Clearly my roles aren't going anywhere. And so I decided that instead of dreading the roles just fulfill them....I mean really fulfill them. I fulfill my roles because I try to do what it takes to be a good wife, mother, teacher, colleague etc. but there are days I do it grudgingly. My one word fulfillment means I want to function in each role to the best of my ability until it is time to function in another role. When I am with my husband I want to experience fulfillment as a wife. When I am with my children, I want to feel the rewards of being a mother. When I am at work I want to experience fulfillment as a teacher, truly enjoy the process of teaching and inspiring young minds. And most importantly, when I am alone I want fulfillment as a woman, be Tiffany, have fun with Tiffany.

I summarize this desire with the following poster.