A few years ago, when I shared here on the blog that I was feeling overwhelmed by pregnancy, life with small children, and trying to get through the solo parenting season at our house that is income tax time, a kind reader gently reminded me of the 80/20 rule.
To paraphrase, she basically said that it was okay that things were a little bit crazy at my house 20% of the time, because the other 80% things were normal. The majority of the time, things are fine around here. When I realized that she was right, I was able to let go of the guilt.
A messy season of life won’t define their entire childhood.
Things around here haven’t been up to my ideal lately. It has been a bit chaotic, if you want to know the truth. This is a busy time of year for my family, a season I know is coming every year, but one that often finds me a little on the frazzled side by the end of it, clinging loosely to our rhythm and routines but mostly just letting things go and focusing only on the essentials.
Tax season is coming to an end for 2013, which means things will start to return to what passes for normal around here soon.
In the meantime, there are paper plates on my table, we’ve had pancakes for dinner more than I care to think about (because it has been one of our best gluten-free meal successes so far), and the last time we went to the library I’m pretty sure we checked out more children’s videos than books (and we won’t even mention the Netflix marathons).
We’re in “survival” mode right now. And I don’t feel guilty for doing what I need to do to get through it.
At the end of the day we’re happy and we’re healthy, and that is enough.
