Make Your New Mantra: You Are Enough

We are three weeks into a new homeschooling year at our house and already I feel wobbly. Again. Unsure, behind, unable to do it all. I’m not sure if I am enough. If I have what it takes.

When I came across this quote from Maya Angelou, the heaviness lifted and I knew I had to share it with you. Consider this you are enough mantra.

My message for us all at this stage: You Alone Are Enough.

You Are Enough Mantra

You too may be experiencing some pangs of disappointment at this stage. Maybe. Feelings like…

• Why is it taking me until dinnertime to get all of our homeschooling done?
• Why can’t I keep up with my plans?
• Why doesn’t it look smooth and easy like I imagined it would?
• How does everyone else seem to juggle it all but I never can?

Probably because you are trying to do too much at once.

I want to pass along some very wise advice that was once given to me: you can have it all, just not all at once.

It’s the “not all at once” part that I want you to hear today!

Here’s the thing: it is not possible to homeschool children of multiple ages, create a painting with one child and knit with another, sing songs and verses, tell stories from memory, make homemade bean bags, fix a lovely hot breakfast for everyone…and then a healthy lunch…and then a dinner from scratch that’s gluten-free or paleo or what have you, and have the laundry folded, the bathrooms cleaned with a spray cleaner you made yourself, oh, and throw together a batch of kombucha, and teach recorder lessons, and…

But somehow, this is what we think we should be able to pull off.

This is what we picture in our heads and then when we try to achieve it, we fall short. And feel disappointed in ourselves. And, well, frankly, not good enough.

You cannot improve from a place of not good enough. 

So maybe you can have it all over a period of years. Over a lifetime. But not all today. Not even all this week.

The place to start is with you. And believing in yourself. Believing that you are enough.

Repeat this mantra to yourself, “I am enough.”

Then build up from there. If you want to learn something new, to bring a new approach or one of the lively arts into your homeschool, try this: think in threes, pick one.

That’s another one of my mantras. Think of three elements you want to bring to your day, and then pick one to start with.

Then give yourself time to focus on this one thing. To bring it to life with the attention and love it (and you) deserve. Give it time. Plenty of time. Like not one day. Not even one week. Weeks. A month is often good. But sometimes it takes even longer to feel comfortable with a new skill, a new habit, a new routine.

Embrace this you are enough mantra. 

Remember, this is the starting point: You Are Enough!

I can help you feel “enough” with the Inner Work Journey. Join me and a small group of homeschooling moms on this 12-week journey to explore our inner world of thoughts and feelings. Learn to live from a place of acceptance and possibility so you can finally feel like you’re exactly what your children need. New group starts every March. 

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