Parenthood is definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of a lifetime. It’s also challenging. Whether you’re a mom of one or many, you’ve likely navigated a roller-coaster of emotion in your parenting journey. Most parents would agree that some days are better than others.
The more mom experience you have under your belt, the more you might find happiness in the little things in life. Admit it. You’ve busted an ear-to-ear grin over the unexpected joy of finding yourself alone with a piping hot cup of coffee and no other sign of human life nearby but your own.
Non-parents might not get it
Things that might appear seemingly meaningless to a non-parent are causes of great joy if you’ve been in the game longer than a year.
Talk to another seasoned mom about how happy you were to carry out 10-minutes of private hygiene without anyone knocking on the bathroom door and she will understand your bliss. What might sound silly to a non-parent sounds like heaven to another mom.
Dreams change after parenthood
Before parenthood, you may have longed for leisurely strolls on a deserted beach. You may have also dreamed of hours spent soaking in bubble-filled baths. Nowadays, you’d settle for surviving 15 consecutive minutes without someone calling your name.
You no longer need ideas of luxurious, romantic getaways to make you smile. As a seasoned mom, any one of the moments described in the following list might make you reaaalllly happy:
- Climbing into a bed lined with clean sheets, fresh out of the dryer
- Realizing that it’s Friday when you thought it was only Thursday
- Actually getting to eat one of the brownies you baked before hoards of hands scarf them up leaving nothing but crumbs
- Seeing your spouse sweeping up those crumbs, as they trail from the pan to the floor and across the house to wherever the brownie-eater traveled
- A pen that writes nicely
- Knowing where scissors or tape are when you need them
- The day that rolls around once a year where you turn your clock back an hour
- Cleaning off the lint-catcher in the dryer
- Eating a meal that someone else cooked
The longer you’ve been a mom, the happier such moments can make you feel. As years pass, it becomes less about material wealth and more about individual, unexpected (albeit silly) moments of joy.
Wouldn’t change parenthood for the world
We moms love our kids and can’t imagine life without them. Okay, maybe we can imagine it but we would never desire it. Every child is an unrepeatable blessing. Parenthood causes us to lower our standards. It also helps us simplify our lives and find pleasure in things like non-sticky doorknobs and library books, returned on time!
