Change is the only constant

I sometimes think of the time before I had kids.

Not nostalgically, but more matter-of-factly.

I think about how I enjoyed reading, did crafts, took long walks during random hours. I slept restfully, slept in. My house was cleaner, more organized. I experimented more in the kitchen, I was better at keeping in touch with friends and family, my husband and I took more trips and vacations, we visited India more often. And the countless other little things that I could do but can never seem to find the time now.

They are small things.

Post kids, I can’t remember the last time I read a book and finished it. Of course, I have cleaned the house but it never stays that way for too long. Calls to extended family and friends have become more rare.

I still do a lot of the things I did before kids, like reading, crafts. I also need to be creative; esp., in something like cooking (occupational hazard).

The difference is that everything I do now is almost always related to the kids.

When life revolves around children, it can get a little exhausting (even if they are the best thing that happened to me!). Add in the fact that my support system lives thousands of miles away; it can get really hard and exhausting sometimes.

Sometimes I feel like I have to work on keeping sane or I might not be able to hold it all together. I believe a couple of small things help me deal with times like these:

• Embrace change: Growing up, my parents always talked about the stages of life and the importance of embracing change and adapting accordingly. I was always made aware of the fact that nothing in life is constant; and true to the fact, nothing is the same anymore! My day-to-day life, my priorities, my body. And that’s okay. In fact, more than okay.

• Meltdowns: No, not the kids. I am still talking about me. I have meltdowns.  Let’s say once every two weeks? It helps, and I think is completely acceptable.

• Me time: I cherish ‘me time.’ It doesn’t matter if it is five minutes when I am doing my morning/evening skin care routine or the 20 minutes I am in the laundry room doing laundry whilst watching K-drama on my phone. Those precious minutes keep me same.

• Let it go: And on days when nothing works, I just let it pass. I go on auto mode and stop thinking about it. I don’t need a solution for everything.

Happy parenting!