Day One!

I feel that I have been MIA for a little bit. I have not had much to share with my dear Big Tough Girls..I have not been so brave and tough and have been ashamed to share with you. But I feel that I need to re-connect with all of our dear birthmoms that I LOVE so so much! We have been busy with our 5K Race coming up, and working with adoptive families and so many other things that I haven't spent time just talking with you all...sharing thoughts and struggles, fears and joys. I have had a little bit of writer's block and have not known what to say or to share....and then I came across a concept by Brave Girls and I wanted to share some of this with you...I thought it was so powerful and I hope and pray that all of you Big Tough Girls will be able to find some peace and hope through it as well!

I am learning a brand new concept that has been around since the beginning of time...and it is just now becoming a life line for me..becoming vital to my survival..I get to do all that I can do in one day and then tomorrow....IT IS DAY ONE AGAIN! I get to start all over, I get to do all that I can do, give all that I have, learn all that I can...and then...tomorrow...IT IS DAY ONE AGAIN!

This life is a constent learning process...it is always changing, always hard, always wonderful, always scary...and everyday we get to be a part of it...as much as we allow ourselves to be! SO why wouldn't you give it everything you have...even if you fail..even if you have a heartbreaking day..you get to wake up tomorrow and start over..fresh, motivated, excited! As I am writing this I am laughing a little as I am thinking about the very creative movie-Groundhog Day! I know that many of you have seen it....he gets to repeat the same day over and over so he gets braver and more outgoing as the days go on....NOW we are not repeating the same day and time doesn't stop for us but we do get to start a NEW DAY every morning that we wake up!!..THAT IS SO POWERFUL....a new day when you wake up...every single day!

(picture by Melody Ross)

Think about how you feel when you jump into something on your very first day..school, work, marriage, parenthood, a friendship...you approach that with amazing excitement, confindence, motivation, desire, and more....WHAT IF you took every day and looked at it as DAY ONE!

I feel like a failure alot of the time..I feel like I am never enough..but my idea and lie that I have created in my head about ENOUGH is not something I should be living by. I have been so hard on myself thinking that I have spent so many years messing up, I am never good enough, never have enough money, not making progress like I should, not being a good enough mother or a wife...but what I am realizing is that I am using the WRONG measuring stick!! I am listening to the wrong voices, I am comparing myself to others instead of what is in my heart..

(photo by Melody Ross)

I need to be looking at the effort that I put in each day. At the end of the day when I crawl into bed and recap my day..the good, the bad and the ugly I need to ask myself
"what did you get done? did you give it your very best? did you do all that you could do?"

And then...TOMORROW is DAY ONE and I get to start over..I get to get out of bed and start my day again...fix the things that I struggled with the day before and do my very best!

Big Tough Girls...I love you all so much. We all have days that are crippling, that make us feel like failures, that keep up from wanting to try again. I am hear to tell you that if you can remember that each day is DAY ONE..that you get a fresh start..that you will be able to come back from anything! It is amazing what a hot bath and a good night sleep can do for you..wake up tomorrow knowing that you have a new day, a new chance, a new attitude..and because we are always learning..you will get to do it all over again the next day!

(picture by Melody Ross)