Whenever you're asked to describe yourself on profile, what do you say?
It evolves as you go on different stages of your life.
At the moment, I'm reluctant to say that I'm a full-time mom, even though technically I am one. So much of my time is spent on Cassie ever since she was born. That's expected.
But before I got pregnant, I was adamant about not prioritizing my mom role above everything. I am first a daughter, a wife, then a mother. And that means the foremost fact that I'm eternally saved by Jesus doesn’t change, so does secondly being the general manager of the family's overall wellbeing plus accountant of household expenditures.
I'm also working part-time. And that means another extra role besides daughter, wife, and mom. It's a lot of roles, and the more I think about how I want to describe myself, the more I think describing yourself is actually limiting.
Women are often praised as multitaskers, yet I suck at multitasking. If my focus is everywhere but in the moment, my productivity decreases down to 0%. But I do know this: The only thing that confines our identity and roles in life is ourselves. We are capable of multiplying our roles within the boundaries we set for ourselves. As we grow wiser with experience over time, we come to understand that limits are supposed to set us free, instead of us taking on roles and boxing different aspects of our life into individual packages.
What I learned ever since becoming a mom besides these new skills is that it's all a balancing act, a juggle of sorts. I have a bullet journal that keeps my time, energy, and workload organized - and the rest of my free time is the reward I get by spending time with Cassie, because even though she is not the top priority, she is a priority. This doesn't mean I love her any less than the next mother. It just means I don’t go crazy. I used to plan out specific time blocks for every aspect of my life, and when it all doesn't go according to my plan, I sulk.
But having Cassie changed me, changed hubs and us and our marriage. When others kept telling us, "Wait till you have children, you'll fight often," we only became even more aligned with each other. My first and, argually, only identity have not changed ever since having Cassie, and the same goes for the hubs as God's son. Our dearest Cassidy is like an extra slab of glue that binds us even tighter than ever before, a gift of eternal joy from our Father in heaven.
And for that, as a mom, a wife, and a daughter, I'm grateful.
