New Job Title

My new job title is Stay at Home Mom. I'm still getting used to saying it, let alone getting used to the idea of it.

This is such a journey for me. To find out who I am, what it is I really want to do - and then go for it. It's scary and exhilarating and comforting all at the same time.

My anxiety is through the roof because of finances...living on one income is going to be different for certain. Not to mention, this is the first time in my life since being a child that I've been "taken care of" by someone else. It's definitely different and unsettling to me.

But, it's what is needed for me to get passed this anxiety and depression - and most importantly - learn how to live with it and not go over the deep end. It's getting a little better every day. Reading books with Buddhist themes give me comfort and peace.

I suggest reading Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, by Karen Maezen Miller. This book has really helped me understand both anxiety and depression, not to mention finding joy in the ordinary - including being a stay at home mom.

One of my favorite quotes from her book is as follows:

The instructions are in your hands. And when you follow them, you arrive clear and fresh - free of heartache, failure, fear, anger, and judgment - into a ready-made life of deep peace and genuine satisfaction. Fulfillment derives not from lofty achievements, but from ordinary feats. It arrives not once in a lifetime, but every moment of the livelong day.

Words to live by.