[amazon_image id=”1400206464″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life[/amazon_image]

Read about the first chapter here.

Read about the second chapter here.

Read about chapter three here.

Read about chapter four here.

Read about the fifth chapter here.

Read about the sixth chapter here.

Her seventh chapter is called;

When You Feel Like a Failure

When I read this chapter, I swear she was writing it just for me!  I feel like this more than I care to mention.  I am constantly taken aback at how hard parenting is.  I’ve felt from a very young age that God wanted me to be a mom, I just figured that it would be easier since it’s what I was called to do.

I know that my children have free will, but when they don’t act like I would like, I do take that as a complete reflection of me and my parenting.  There is a thin line between “free will” and “more is caught than taught.” Right now some of my biggest struggles are that one son is having a hard time focusing in school, and he gives up easily.  He is just like me and if he knows he can’t do something perfectly, then he just gives up.  This frustrates me to no end!  Then I start on a cycle, I’m frustrated at his behavior, however, I’m more frustrated at the fact that I don’t know how to help him.  I don’t know what to do or say, and I should, because he’s me.  I don’t remember how I learned to deal with this personality trait better.

My other son is having a hard time with reading.  He is more like his father and if he doesn’t see the need in something, then he’s probably not going to do it.  He also has had some issues with controlling frustration.  We have gotten help with his frustration issues and he has made great progress, but I still feel I am to blame.

My fourth child has issues with speech and focusing as well.  Getting him help was a tough emotional experience for me.  Sitting in the meeting learning about all the areas in which he was behind in, I felt like I had failed him as a mother.  I felt like I had failed.

When we went to our first high-risk pregnancy appointment and they were telling me about ALL the possibilities, I thought it was my fault.  If only I hadn’t gotten sick.

Let’s not even get started on how I feel like a failure when it comes to keeping a clean house.

While some of these things I have control over, many I do not.  I can either use these experiences to learn and become better, or quit and define myself as a failure.  Some days I’m good and strong, and other days, I do fall into the wrong mindset.

Quotes

My favorite quotes from this chapter were:

• “Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up.  They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.”  Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
• “I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is a step forward.”  Thomas Edison
• “Failure doesn’t define you-unless you let it.”
• “You can’t come up with a solution until you isolate the problem.”
• “My life was not focused on finding fulfillment in God alone, but in making an impact.”
• “When we are focused on what we cannot change, we cannot make the most out of who we are and what we have to offer.”
• “My talents and abilities are going to differ wildly from the person next to me.  I can either accept and embrace this or spend my life feeling like I don’t measure up.”
• “Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.”  Marianne Williamson

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