As mothers, our planners tell us there is no time to stop and smell the roses, so sometimes life has to gently remind us of the beauty around us when we feel overwhelmed.

Life Lessons and the Sea

In my case, life’s lessons came via the sea. Anyone who knows me knows I must live near the water.  Yet, I drive down by the beach and have never stopped and appreciated the beauty of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I have never answered my inner callings to pullover and drag my feet through the sand while staring out at the endless waters.

My to-do lists and alarms and tasks have kept me too preoccupied to answer the call of nature and enjoy a sunset on the beach. 

It took me traveling 1,238 miles to sit by the seaside on the beach of a tiny island while nursing my youngest son to truly appreciate the beauty of motherhood.

Usually with feedings, I’m checking my email, scrolling social media, and mentally urging my son to hurry up. Yet on this day, it was different. I sat on the sand peacefully as the waves came and lapped my feet in no hurry to end his feeding. I enjoyed the beauty of nurturing my youngest while watching my eldest splash around in the waves.

It was like an epiphany of life that led me to realize that I had been tackling motherhood completely wrong these last few months. 

Today’s version of life will constantly give us too many tasks and roles to play, but even the most put together and organized moms have to stop, breath, refresh ourselves, and then carry on.

Nature never hurries, so why should we? 

We juggle school projects, soccer practice, another work meeting, school conferences, birthday parties, the hubby’s to-do’s, and so much more that we sometimes may not appreciate the beauty of our children and the role we play in their development.

As moms, we forget about ourselves sometimes. As mothers, we are always hurrying. You, too, may need to find the time to slow down and interact with life around you.

Find your calling in nature. Use this time to find clarity with what is not working in your life.  In my case, I never realized how agitated my soul was until I sat on this little beach many miles from home. I realized how many of my issues were insignificant and my main priorities were skewed.

While still young at life but slightly experienced in motherhood, I have finally started to understand the beauty of it. As I travel down this path again, I have realized from time to time I may need to stop and be renewed by the life around me during this journey.

Sometimes we need to wander away from the hustle and bustle of our lives and recharge. Get some sun in your head, so to speak! Be it under the shade of the Magnolia trees, snoozing on a beach, trekking through the forest, or setting up a retreat in the backyard. As mothers we are the soothers of other’s souls but what about our own?

Our children will grow so beautifully when they have a mother who understands she has to nurture her soul and then theirs.