How I know single moms are capable of greatness
I’ve talked about this a little around here, but I want to visit it a little deeper. As a single mom, somewhere I picked up the mindset that just surviving is enough. Being a single mom is really tough. I’ve faced things my girlfriends with partners have never had to face. I’ve had moments where I sat on my kitchen floor, bawled my eyes out, then got back up and kept going.
Because it’s so hard, somewhere along the line I picked up the idea that getting by is enough. I’m super proud of myself for keeping us afloat. And you know what, I am. It isn’t easy doing it all and also making sure your kid has a happy well adjusted childhood. We should give ourselves a pat on the back for that. But we certainly should not stop there. And if I’m being honest, that’s where I was. I could only see to get through that day, or that season. There are seasons where you need to focus really hard on getting through, but they are short lived and not the norm. If you’re caring for a sick parent, or a newborn baby, for instance. These seasons pass, and once they are done, we need to get back to the business of growing, not just getting by.
You wanna know what I think? I think that, because we have been through so much, we are strong enough to shoot right to the top and really thrive. We can be leaders. We can juggle a lot of things, it’s second nature. Any given day I’m thinking about lawn care, field trip permission slips, work projects, travel plans, when the electric bill is due, when I need to get my oil changed, and what is for dinner. It all gets done. Why not then go a bit further?
I’m tired of just getting by on the crumbs that I’m thrown. I want more. It’s like no one expects it from us either, because they already “can’t imagine” how we make it through the day without any help. I know a single mom of four who has a wonderful career and also gets up every morning and works out. Some days, this feels a little extra to me. She has FOUR. And she makes time to work out? Yes, she’s amazing, but you know what? She’s built for it. She has had to push through so many hard things, and now she is thriving. Her children are growing up and seeing what a strong and lovely person their mother is, and they will be so blessed for it.
It’s for this reason that I think we are called to more. We are all created to grow and thrive, and that is not something that we have to give up because we don’t have a partner; that is something that is for us too. We have been trained for greatness. We are already equipped, because we know how to do hard things.