The Calm Mama? Say What?

What happened to Get Innergized?  Well, let me tell ya…

Last August, I decided to take a break from blogging. During my time away, I celebrated my daughter’s 2nd birthday with my family.

Took a family vacation to beach.  She loved the birds, but hated the water because she fell the night before and skinned her knee.  :(

Came home and made a commitment to finish writing my 12-session program (I’ve been writing for months so it was time to get it all together!!). Here you can see my last to-do’s for it.

I’m happy to report that it’s FINISHED!!  But, now I’m taking a break from it so I can look over it with fresh eyes. It’s waiting for some major editing (not one of my strengths).

While letting-my-12-sessions-sit-for-a-break, I began to make some more changes here.

I’m now calling this space, The Calm Mama™.

Why?

Because I strive everyday with being calm as a mama and definitely have everyday struggles with it.

And, I feel that there’s a HUGE need for a resource that helps us mama FEEL calm no matter what the day brings. In my opinion, when you’re calm…you’re energized, happy, creative and enJOY your family even more, so having a resource that is filled with this will help us mama’s greatly.

It’s funny, because when I look back at everything I’ve ever wanted to create in my life, it all wraps around FEELING calm.  And when I look back on the 12-sessions that I’ve written, it all wraps around FEELING calm, too.

Before having my daughter, I was a teacher and I wasn’t as calm as I’d like to be.  I did everything in my power to stay calm for my students while dealing with behaviors and the pressures of testing and moving my students to the next grade level, and I definitely succeeded on the outside, but on the inside, I was worried, anxious and stressed. Some days I’d come home and just cry because I kept my cool for hours.

Before becoming a teacher, I was the same way.  I’ll never forget back in college, when my boyfriend (husband now) said to me, “You’re the chillest person I know.”  I looked at him like he was nuts, while laughing inside thinking, “If he ONLY knew”! (well, he knows now! lol). I was totally stressed about getting my degree, finding a job and wondering what would happen to him and I after we graduated.

As life started to turn full-speed ahead, my thoughts did too, which left me feeling not-so-calm.

When I finally quit teaching elementary school, I began to slow down and feel more calm.  While pregnant, I was able to stay calm, as well.  Even during labor, I was calm – and boy, was I shocked, but so happy about that.

Then enter mommyhood and everything picked up even faster than ever – worrisome thoughts (that I just know come with being a mama no matter what), getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight, very limited ME time, cramming every book on parenting into my brain, overloaded to-do list and toddler screams galore.

If you’ve been following me here, you know that I use mindless-creativity (doodling and photography) to help me FEEL calm and relaxed.  If it wasn’t for this finding, I’d probably still be wishing mediation and yoga were working for me.

I have many days that I just need to FEEL calm (what am I talking about – every day I need to FEEL calm!). Nowadays, I just can’t get in the car (alone!) and go to my favorite de-stressing place (s) and sit still.  When I do get in the car for a nice drive (with my toddler) it usually ends up with her screaming for my ipod so she can play games on it. Ha!

Before having my daughter, my husband I lived on Guam (and then FL and VA).  It’s actually where my husband and I married, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled because my favorite and most relaxing place to be is at the beach.  So I loved living on an island.

We lived in the building that’s circled in purple.  Yep!!  I would walk down to the beach EVERY evening and watch the sunset.  It was heaven!

Below is an actual Guam sunset. Gorgeous, right?  Just looking at this makes me FEEL calm…ahhhhhh!

Once moving back from Guam (to FL) we married with our family and friends two years later in Key West. We were supposed to marry with our friends and family in Key West a month after we moved back, but Hurricane Dennis came and evacuated us, which, by the way, Dennis is my father-in-law’s name…Yep! Oh, and I bought my wedding dress the month before I moved to Guam (I lived on Guam for a year – so I waited 2 years to wear my dress…talk about being calm! lol.).

But on the actual day, we were blessed with the most beautiful weather.  For July, it ended up being breezy and not too hot – which rarely happens down there in the mid-summer months. The universe definitely had my back for being SO patient.  :)

This was the view that helped me FEEL calm and relaxed the entire wedding week we spent down in the Keys. Breathtaking!  And a view that I can’t wait to go back to one day.

Both were taken from our hotel room balcony.  Ahhhhhh!!

I would spend every night, even after my husband went to bed, outside on the balcony.  Just watching the lights of the boats go by and smelling the ocean.  I could sit out there for hours.  Just sitting, doing nothing (well, sipping on some wine – if you consider that doing something).

And, yes, that’s me. What a view, right?  Pure ahhhhhhh!

So what does all of this have to do with The Calm Mama™?

Well, since I can’t live this way every single day, I have to create this calm mama living everyday.  Because if I don’t, I won’t be taking care of myself and then I won’t be taking care of my family in the best way that I’d like.

I have to create calm in my life so when those kid moments arise, the one’s that make me want to scream and run away, can be handled with more ease.

And, let me tell ya, if you’re anything like me, those kid moments come like a roller coaster every.single.day.

Since I crave being a calm mama for myself and my family, I’ve done (and still do) everything I can to help me feel calm no matter what.  And I want to share everything I learn with you.  :)

Currently my time is limited because I give 99% of my time everyone else.  So it’s my job to make sure the I bring the FEELING I get when I’m at the beach and/or watching a sunset into my life every single day. And, boy can that be hard.

So with that, you’ll be seeing many more posts on feeling calm, and yes, I’ll be using mindless-creativity (such as doodles, painting and photography) to help with this.

Because to me, mamahood is all about feeling calm, happy, energized and creative! Wooohoo!

So get ready for some calm, creative and energizing fun!

In the meantime, if you follow me on Facebook and you’d like to stay connected there, I have a new page.  Please like it by clicking here —>  http://www.facebook.com/thecalmmama  and you can also click on the Facebook logo to the right.

Thanks so much for your support and connection!

Here’s to living a calm mama life…cheers!

:: I’d love to know,  what do you LOVE that makes you FEEL calm? ::

{life is calm}

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love to keep the calm mama tips, recipes, products and services flowing to you! Would you? If so, then let’s stay connected by subscribing to my blog by email or RSS, tweeting on Twitter, connecting on Facebook and emailing me any questions you many have (I love answering questions!).

Also, don’t forget to sign up for your F.R.E.E. “101 Ways to FEEL Calm and Energized During Each and Every Mommy To-Do List Day” and Calm Mama E-Newsletter.  I’ve got lots of colorful, calm mama tips and tools(for subscribers eyes only!)  and articles to share.