For me, Mom
Management� holds a number of meanings, with Managing
Mom Before Everybody Else� being most important. I have
always felt that being a Mom is a lot like being a
manager. The skills we use to run our homes are very
similar to skills used to run a business.
Regardless of our individual circumstances, we share a
common bond - that of being a Mother. Being a Mom is an
incredible experience but it is also very consuming. We
have all experienced an incredible change from our
pre-mother lives. Most of these changes are very
positive but one that we all have trouble dealing with
is a loss of our sense of self. At some point, we
realize that we have let being a Mom become our entire
identity. When my children were two and four years old,
I realized that Tracy Lyn was missing. In tears, I
realized I had lost my sense of self. In looking for
myself, I decided to try doing a triathlon, thus setting
one goal. Wow! The focus of that one goal, one thing
just for me, re-established my sense of self. That
initial goal led to five more triathlons, becoming an
entrepreneur, a professional speaker, and now an author.
During the long process of finding my true self again, I
also became a better Mother.
As I realized, being a Mom is not who we are, but rather
one of the many other roles that we fill in our lives.
The term Mom Management was created as a reminder that
the Me in Mommeee still exists, and needs to be
nurtured. Flying provides us with the perfect analogy.
At the beginning of each flight, we are told that, �If
flying with children, make sure to secure your own
oxygen mask first and then secure theirs.� As a Mom, we
need to take care of ourselves first so that we can
better meet the needs of our families. Rather than put
ourselves second we need to secure our oxygen masks
first.
When we truly care for ourselves, it becomes possible to
care far more profoundly about other people. The more
alert and sensitive we are to our own needs, the more
loving and generous we can be toward others. Eda LeShan
Knowing we need to care for ourselves and doing it are
very different things. As Moms, we feel that we are
being selfish if we take the extra time to pay better
attention to our own needs. However, it is not
selfishness but an absolute necessity for Moms to be
cared for. By taking time to explore their dreams and
determining their priorities, Moms have the chance to
learn to manage themselves and become their own friend!
Friendship with oneself is all-important, because
without it one cannot be a friend with anyone else in
the world. Eleanor Roosevelt
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Excerpted from Mom Management, Managing Mom Before
Everybody Else � 2003 Tracy Lyn Moland. Used with
permission of The Gift of Time. All rights reserved.
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