JUST SAY YES! Featured Writer Jennica Hirrlinger

I love the article Jennica wrote for the month of May.  It's like she read my mind!  This issue haunts so many of us every day.  Do I exercise, or spend time with my kids?  Do I make dinner on time, or go running?  Wow, we women sure do have a lot on our plates.  Enjoy this amazing article.  I did.      

JUST SAY YES! - Featured Writed Jennica Hirrlinger
We are a yes gender, us women. We say yes to anything or we feel guilty. Pick you up at the airport? Yes. PTO President? OK. Borrow my car? Um, I guess. Make your family dinner? Be there at 5. We watched our moms say yes to absolutely everything that was ever presented to them until they were stressed and half-crazy on top of being sleep deprived and exhausted. So, it's no surprise that we grew up to do the same. Sew on your boy scout badges by 4:00 p.m? Yes. Bring your instrument/homework/lunch to you at school? Sure. Can you make pizza for my football team? Why not. You want to wear my clothes, my shoes, my make-up, etc? Any time you want.

We say yes and, sometimes, we still feel guilty. After I birthed a couple of kids and needed to get back in shape I would get up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym for an hour. And. every. single. day. I felt guilty for leaving home without them. Weird, right? Not really. I think a lot of women, new moms especially, feel that way. It took me a while to figure out my new role in life. I mean, I had just grown a whole person inside my body and I am in charge of their safety and happiness. That baby uses my body parts to eat; I can't leave the house without it! So, I felt guilty but I kept going until one day, I didn't feel guilty anymore. I went to the gym and lifted weights until I was strong enough to pick up that burden of guilt and remove it from my shoulders. It was liberating, to say the least. I was saying yes . . . to me! Saying yes to myself made it easier and less stressful to say yes to everybody else.

Don't get me wrong, saying yes is good. We do it because we love our families. We are the moms and our kids and husbands need us to say yes and to be there for them. I'm not going to tell you to stop saying yes. I'm not even going to suggest that you say yes less. I'm actually saying we should say yes more . . . but we need to learn what else to say yes to.

Say yes to getting out on your own for a while; Leave them home with dad. Say yes to working out with friends; Laugh and re-charge. Say yes to making your favorite dinner every once in a while; Kids can handle curry and fried rice. Say yes to taking a shower by yourself; It's ok to lock the door.

Say yes! And do it all without guilt.

Jennica