“If You Have Food in Your Fridge…” | Guest Post by Laura Page of Literary Legs

My dear friend and fellow blogger and book lover, Laura Page, is joining us today with a very insightful post about life, goals, and dealing with them in the real world. Here's a little bit about this lovely woman...

Laura Page is a woman, a wife, a sister, a friend, and your favorite nerd-- among other things. She enjoys art, culture, literature, and a good glass of red wine! Her current projects include building her blog, Literary Legs, and writing her first novel, as well as a chapbook of poetry. Laura lives in Oregon with her hubby and her cat, “Kit.” She loves company, so feel free to drop by the blog and say hi!

"If You Have Food In Your Fridge..."

by

Laura Page

author of Literary Legs

Before I launch into what I’m about to talk about, I should say first off that I’m not a mommy. Nor do I have a high-powered job. Neither of those thing-- yet. So I really have no right to even go there with my topic, today, by all you breadwinning mom’s out there. I admit it. Okay. Now that that’s out of the way, I want to talk a little bit about… stress

Ha. I can just hear you all, now.

I want to talk about stress, simply because I experience a lot of it. Especially lately. If you’d known me a few years ago, you’d be surprised by this, because I’ve always been pretty chill. Somehow, though, stress crept in and suddenly I realize—I’m my mother! How did this happen? It’s the usual stuff—too many hours at work (or too few), trying to make the money stretch all the way to the end of the month, trying to please other people in my life--and just generally trying too hard to see around the next bend in the road before I get there. Normal stuff, right? More so for you mommy bloggers, I’m sure! To a certain extent, I think everybody feels these pressures. But those things have been pressures for all of my adult life, and I was not always so harassed by them. I’ve had to really evaluate the source of my anxieties, of late, and what I’ve come up with is a little ridiculous. 

I’ve realized that I get stressed out not because I think we won’t be okay. We’re okay. We’ll be okay. No, I get stressed primarily because I feel that I should be moving along a certain life track. I feel like the older I get, the more people wonder why I don’t have that graduate degree yet. That mortgage. Or any of the other external indicators of success. Lame, right? I get stressed, because I’m often afraid that my wheels are moving outside the lines of what my society deems “successful.” Because I’m a late bloomer, you might say. 

And it’s ridiculous. Straight up. 

Ostensibly, I’m against making new year’s resolutions. But this year, I decided to make one. I do, however, have a somewhat “loose” interpretation of the word “resolution,” when it comes to first of the year promises to oneself. I’m not going to commit myself to, say, flossing twice a day, like I did last year. Or fitting into the size 6 pants I used to fit into. No, no. This year, I’m simply going to try to remember that I am blessed. So incredibly blessed. Right where I am. 

This little meme puts it into perspective. Says it better than I ever could. 

Well, when ya put it like that…I think all of us are pretty blessed. This year, I’m going to start trying harder to remember that. Remind myself of it more often. I suspect that doing so is going to keep my stress levels down. This late bloomer is going to get over herself and that silly 5-going-on-10-year-plan this year, and savor what life has to offer in the present.

Be sure to check out more of Laura's wonderful writing over on her blog, Literary Legs. Laura will be joining us every 3rd Tuesday of the month from now on, so check back February 20th for another beautiful post!