Ready To Throw In The Towel?

Have you ever felt like giving up? Are you a mum juggling home responsibilities, official responsibilities, religious and societal commitment and expectations? It seems it just gets tougher as the days go by. Feel like you can’t take it anymore? Don’t give up.

Why?

It’s a Season – seasons come and go. Rainy season sometimes will look like it won’t end, and then one day, dry season sets in. In some parts of the world, it is autumn, spring, summer and winter. Some are busy, some are less busy but it’s important that we tell the difference. As a mum, you can tell that when children are young is a busy time no doubt, but persevere. This season will pass soon and the children will grow up and become so independent that you will wonder how it happened.

Your children need you – this is no joke. Someone once said that a child whose mother dies at its birth has just entered into a battle because nobody can be like your mother. This is not to say there are not bad mothers but to infer that the impact of a mother’s presence in the life of her child is undeniable. If the mother is absent, there is a vacuum no matter how good the father or any guardian is. There is a certain vulnerability created in the emotions of that child.

No experience is wasted – everything you go through will be a message to some people someday. Every stress, pain, joy, discomfort, tragedy, blessing, misery or bliss will help some people one day to heal. So don’t give up, hang in there, hoping for the best and looking out for it.

Others have gone through it and come out – ‘Nothing is new under the sun’ says Solomon (in the Bible). Everything we are going through today, women have gone through it in the past, and have come out successfully. People have passed through your way before. Find out how they survived, how they made it through that phase of life, how they handled and resolved their challenges. Older Mum, please share your experiences with young Mums rather than judge them. It can make the difference between giving up and going on.

There is help for you – Ask for help. Don’t see yourself as a bad person for thinking about walking away, after all, we all have our limits. So, get help so you can be whole again. Ask God to show you who you can talk to because not everyone can handle your mess and turn it to a message only God can and he uses his specific people. A Pastor, Christian psychologist, an older mum, a friend, reading this blog and blogs like this, brings help your way. I remember breastfeeding severally at night-time when my children were babies and I would say to myself ‘many women are up now, like me breastfeeding their babies too. So, I am not alone’. Others are having the same kinds of challenges.

It could be time to re-evaluate what your life’s purpose is – sometimes when we feel burnt out, it is because we are out of our purpose. Perhaps we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing hence the agitation, frustration and depression. Pray and search for what it is, that has your name on it.

It looks like life will be easier if you walk away, but it may not.

Just hang in there.

Tomorrow will be alright.

Blessing Onwuamah