It's Okay. Brag on Yourself.

I make it no secret that I want to be a "supermommy."  I want to be able to do it all, cook it all, clean it all, DIY it all.  When I don't meet those ridiculously high expectations that I've set for myself, I usually feel pretty down.  Make myself feel like a failure.  Focus on all the things that I'm not good at.  I have terrible self-confidence.  Before Avery, I thought little of it.  It's just "how I was."  Now that I have a daughter, I don't want her to grow up like that.  Focusing on her faults and things she can't do, rather than empowering herself and focusing on her assets and things she has to offer.  As a result, I'm going to list a few things that I know I do well.  Normally, I'd think this was bragging.  But why shouldn't I be able to point out all the things that I do really well instead of pointing out the times I fail?

• I can do almost anything one handed.  Put my kid in one hand and ask me to do anything with the other.  I'll amaze you. 
• I'm pretty creative.
• I can remember Disney movie quotes like it's nobody's business.  Try me. 
• I can be really witty when I wanna be. 
• I'm organized (just not at the moment in our new home).
• I think I have a talent for party planning.  Hope to make a career out of it someday. 
• I have a knack for finding super cute planners.  
• I am very tender-hearted and want to help people when I know they need it.
• I can spot carrots in a meal or in an ingredient list from a mile away.  It's a gift, really (or I have a carrot allergy and it makes it necessary.  Tomato, tamato).
• I make some kick-butt Kraft macaroni and cheese.

I didn't list these things for you to hate me or think that I'm bragging about anything (because I know you're super jealous of the carrot-spotting skill).  I did it because I want all of us supermommy wannabes to start thinking about all of the great things we do.  We're amazing women!  We carried our babies for 9 months and then endured hours of labor to bring our babies into this world and then went back to work a mere 6 weeks later (whose idea was that??)!  Or maybe you've been foster mommies or adoptive mommies and dealt with drama and legal systems and biological parents and lived to tell the story!  We've lived through terrible twos and spilled milk and burnt dinner and didn't break down and lose our minds!  We're Supermommies!  Why not focus on all the things we do amazingly?  Why not brag on ourselves a little bit.  Why shouldn't we pump each other up instead of tearing each other down?   Challenge for you:  make a list.  Right now.  Write down 10 things that you do really, really well that makes you the person that you are.  Then focus on that the rest of the day.  Stop thinking about all the things that are going wrong or you're not doing right.  See if that doesn't make a difference in your self-confidence and your attitude the rest of the day.