scary stuff

Three things I wish for you…

Confidence. Laughter. Rest.

Confidence you can fake for a while with Stubbornness and Determination. Don’t do it for long, though, because you’ll find yourself getting sad or angry or both, and that will begin to show. Eventually the sadness and anger will color everything you do, and it’s just downhill from there. So confidence is a must. If it means starting something over from scratch or completely rethinking your life philosophy, do it. The temporary pain of a change is just that: temporary. The long term effects will be more rewarding.

Laughter is something that will come naturally sometimes, because this squealy little thing is going to be so funny: pooping like there’s no tomorrow, contorting his little body as he tries out this new gravity thing, scowling at those fuzzy looking heads that are hovering just out of focus. Other times it won’t come naturally: when he’s screaming for milk, for a diaper, or for no reason at all. That’s when you’ll need laughter the most, because it will relax you and help you keep things in perspective: the nights last forever but the weeks fly by.

Rest is no more and no less important than the rest, but you can’t fake it with caffeine or cold showers. Fatigue will do more than anything else to bring you down. It’s so tempting to do “one more thing” because a baby (more often chores associated with baby) will *always* need “one more thing”. It will be there tomorrow. Call in reinforcements if you have to, as often as you have to.

Yeah, there’s essentials like diapers and onesies and wipes, but there are substitutes for those. There are no substitutes for Confidence, Laughter, Rest, and most important, Love.