New-Mom-of-2 Strategy #5 - Prioritize and Let the Rest Go

Priority #1 is everyone survives. Priority #2 is that everyone survives and is healthy. Priority #3 is that the cloth diapers get into the laundry every day. Priority #4 is everyone eats food ever day. Priority #5 is everyone bathes. If all that happens I consider myself successful. If all that gets done and we're all happy that is a bonus.

Okay, perhaps priority #6 is that we are all happy.  But seriously, having clean diapers ranks above happiness at this point because no one will be happy if there are no diapers. 

I've had to carefully prioritize and stick to my very short list with determination and focus. This is not easy when sleep deprived. I usually have a lengthy list of cleaning and homemaking tasks to do each day on top of homeschooling and teaching yoga classes. I have slowed down dramatically. When my first child was an infant this resulted in a deep sense of anxiety and I fiercely resisted, causing myself and my husband much suffering. It goes by quickly, however. I've learned to embrace it and enjoy this time getting to know my baby and creating new family routines. Soon she'll be crawling, then walking, and from that point on I'll spend my time chasing after her both literally and figuratively. It is a rare gift to have the opportunity to simply sit and be with someone. Sometimes I struggle to love people with abandon. I find myself apprehensive at times that an inspired and spontaneous act of love will become an expectation that I will then feel pressure to fulfill again and again. I feel free to love her with a total lack of self consciousness.  Every day a bit more of her innate personality reveals itself. These are cherished moments of intimacy when I feel the face of God revealing itself to me through her. I only receive this precious gift of revelation by prioritizing and letting the rest go.