Sometimes, there are sucky days (and that’s ok)
Again, the house is covered in toy vomit. Dishes are piled outside of the dishwasher and sick. No one fed the dogs. Laundry is flowing out of the hamper and onto my bed.
Today sucks.
It’s not always easy like cupcakes and flowers and happy children and unicorns. Anyone who paints this picture is a liar. Let’s not beat around the bush.
Kids and life and marriage and work and sanity — they’re hard. And sometimes, there are sucky days.
But you know what? It’s ok. It’s ok to feel like today sucks and that tomorrow might suck. And it’s ok to kick and scream and cry. It’s ok to take a moment and hate the world around you. It’s ok to wish that you hadn’t given up your career path to stay home with kids. It’s ok to long for the regular daily company of like-minded individuals instead of toddlers who demand your lap and fight over your arms.
It’s ok.
Because bottling up all the suckiness only makes it suckier. (Don’t argue with my spelling.) Pretending that everything is fine will only create a boiling pot of angry-self, and no one wants that exploding.
So today sucked. And the next one might, too. But that doesn’t mean they all will.
The trick is finding the non-sucky parts.
Like when the baby grabs your ears and lays her head down to nuzzle your neck.
Or when the toddler tells you that you look beautiful — even though you know you look a hot mess.
Or when the tween surprisingly sits next to you on the couch, lays her head on your shoulder, and just watches the movie with you.
Or when your kindergartner who isn’t touchy-feely at all offers up an, “I love you,” without being prompted.
Those moments don’t suck.
But we all know that, in the thick of this season, those moments don’t typically stand out.
Instead, it’s the sucky moments that do. But that’s ok.
Because we’re going to get through this. And we’re going to have so much to look back on and laugh about. And then we’re going to offer up advice to a friend having her own sucky moment. A squeeze of her shoulder to say in solidarity, “It DOES suck, sister,” and she will look at us with bedraggled eyes, and we’ll know. We’ll know.
We’ve been there. Sometimes, there ARE sucky days. And it’s ok.
Excellent article. Real and refreshing!
I like your suck-meter. Because although there are days that suck more than they don’t, I don’t know that I’ve had many 100% sucky days. There’s always something to lower that meter a bit. That’s the something that keeps us going.
You are right about laughing at it later. Sometimes it does suck and that’s okay. I think that we get wrapped up in the appeal of other people’s lives that we forget to count our blessing. I mean, their lives suck too sometimes!! Haha
Yep! Thankfully they aren’t all sucky days. Just often enough to help us appreciate the good ones more.