Happy Mother’s Day to the Not-so-Perfect Moms

Hi friends, it’s mother’s day here in America and I want to wish all of the moms out there a great day. I almost skipped this week. My experimental piece this week is so far from perfect. I started off strong but made questionable choices along the way and was pretty sure I ruined it by the end. Usually, I don’t let bad art get me down (bad art’s better than no art eh?) But I have been in a funk for weeks and it just added to the despair. Honestly, I can’t even evaluate this painting because I can’t separate myself from the struggle of creating it.

I think we often can’t evaluate ourselves from a distorted perspective and I think it’s doubly true for mothers. We ruminate on mistakes, wonder if we did the right things to give our children the magical childhood they deserve and feel shame and guilt when we see other mothers doing a way better job than us. I’ve pretty much stopped going on Facebook because it makes me feel like a failure at life. So, other less-than-perfect moms of the world, you are not going to see a photo of me with perfect hair and makeup, looking thin at a brunch buffet while my family gazes on adoringly. This is not Hallmark, instead, you can see me in grimy paint clothes and no makeup with my hair clipped up creating a mediocre painting.

I thought about listing all of the things that were making me feel sad and insecure lately but that was too depressing and I think it’s a common thread that connects us all. There is so much pressure on women to be attractive, thin and successful and mothers have to raise well-adjusted humans on top of that. It’s overwhelming for all of us. Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Even beautiful people with huge spotless houses sipping Mai-Ties on the beach that we see on Instagram. They’re a hot mess, I’m sure they are fretting over how many “likes” their photo is getting just like I am fretting over why a youtube video is doing poorly or where the track uniform is that my child was supposed to return last year. We. Are. All. Hot. Messes! Every one of us! We are all doing our best and if we need to take a day off then gosh darn we deserve it! Yes, we can do it all but we should also be able to cut ourselves a little slack and enjoy our messy and imperfect lives and let go of the guilt of not being the perfect mom. Ladies, are you with me? Happy mother’s day and til next time happy crafting!