Yesterday, in order to make the arduous monthly chore of bill paying less, well, arduous, I was listening to a lovely podcast fromThe Sociable Homeschooler. If you homeschool, you should check it out. She’s very soothing and encouraging and I love her accent.
Anyhow, she was interviewing Hannah Keeley who, if you don’t already know, is this insanely awesome super mom who has her own “lifestyle” TV show, writes books, and home schools her 7 kids. She’s kind of who I want to be when I grow up.
Not surprisingly, Hannah said something that really caught my attention. She was talking about the day she woke up as a parent and started to ask herself, “What am I supposed to do?” Not, “what is the culture around me telling me to do?” but “what am I supposed to do?”
In Hannah’s ah-ha moment, the answer was “love your baby to sleep” as opposed to “leave her in her crib to cry it out.”
The way she phrased this question made me stop to think. I’m so often overly concerned with the “right” way to do something. As I learn and grow as a parent and a person, more and more I’m finding that there is no “right” way. How could there be? There are 7 billion people on the planet and each one of us unique.
You are not supposed to do what I am supposed to do. And though I joke that I want to be Hannah Keeley when I grow up, I am not supposed to do what Hannah Keeley is supposed to do.
Each of us has unique mission and purpose in life. Each of has unique gifts, talents, weaknesses and strengths. Each of us is living in community with other individuals to make up unique families with unique joys and trials.
It’s so true that we need to keep our eyes on our own work. My children were given to me for a reason. And I was given to them. If I worry too much about what everyone else is doing, and about what others might think I should be doing, I will miss what it is I am supposed to do.
