I feel guilty when...

This post goes out to other creative mothers. 
Whether you paint or craft, quilt, sew, or sculpt – this post is for you.  

Within the past few years, I’ve decided to truly dedicate time to making my artwork. At the moment it’s taking the form of acrylic paintings. The paints I’m using, with the exception of three recently purchased tubes of Golden Acrylics, are student paints I received as gifts a LONG time ago. When I really got back into making art, my daughter was a newborn. I would literally sit at a little desk area in our kitchen nursing her and draw or paint in the evening after our two boys were in bed. So, I’m a beginner with some serious time and material constraints. 

This morning while washing dishes, simmering a homestead smoked ham to roast later, waiting for a load of baby clothes to finish in the washer to transfer to the dryer, and preparing lunch for my three kids, I felt guilty. I felt guilty that I wasn’t in the studio. I felt guilty that I hadn’t written my Morning Pages. I felt guilty that I wasn’t out preparing the garden beds or purchasing our starter plants from the nursery. I felt guilty that the clean laundry wasn’t yet folded and put away. I felt guilty that I wasn’t playing with or reading to my kids. I felt guilty that areas of my house are cluttered and need cleaning. I was doing THREE things at once, and I still felt guilty. 

 

Honestly, I believe this is a little ridiculous. 

 

Yes, there are days when I sit on my butt and watch old shows online for an hour or two. Some days we order in food, and my daughter and I *may* be eating box mac n’ cheese as I’m typing this, but for the most part, I prepare homecooked meals, grow/raise a lot of our own food, and I make time for my creative endeavors which may even be developing into a small business. The house isn’t filthy, if a bit untidy. The children are fed and bathed, educated and entertained. Most of the time they have on clean clothes. 

 

If you’re like me, weighed down by the expectations, societal or personal, take a minute. Just, take a minute and breathe in deeply. Close your eyes and realize how much you’ve done, all the little tasks that add up, all the big tasks that get taken for granted. Think about the things that absolutely have to get done – did you do them? Did you get them done with some help from friends or family? I bet you did. I bet everyone’s okay, healthy, probably even happy. And if something did not get done, realize that maybe that’s okay. Realize that maybe not everything has to be done today. Realize that some things are okay to leave undone in order to make room for your passions. Give yourself a break, and for Heaven’s sake, stop feeling guilty.