Where is Your Best Place to Be?

0

Where is Your Best Place to Be? | Duluth Moms Blog

What is the best place to be? Is it the beach? A restaurant? A church? A couch? I believe that the “best place to be” is different for every single person. What does a mom need? A child need? A dad need? What makes these places the best to each individual? Let’s chat.

To be honest, for me, it changes. As a mom of an 8 year old and a 5 year old, as well as being a teacher of 3-5 year olds, sometimes the best place to be is alone …or with ONLY other adults. Sometimes my best place to be is cuddling on the couch with the kiddos. I do love that place a whole lot. (I kind of want to be there right now.)

The seasons can have an impact on where your place is as well. In the summer, I love to go camping with the family and friends. I love smelling the bonfires. I love making s’mores with striped cookies and marshmallows.  I love cuddling up under a blanket when the chill is still just outside. Walking down the dirt road at a campground, watching the families and friends play yard games, eat amazing food and have so much fun their cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing is sometimes the best thing in the world. But in the cold of winter, I love cuddling on the couch under a blanket with my kids. I love to go to a coffee shop with a friend and enjoy conversation and a hot beverage. Who’s with me?

How about a mom whose kids have grown and gone? Whose kids have their own families to take care of? Listening to the people in my life who are in that particular stage of parenthood, I’ve learned that some of them love it when their kids come back and bring the grandkids. I’ve learned some of them love to get outdoors, enjoy the fresh air and get some steps in. I always wonder how I’ll feel when my 8 year old moves out, gets married and has babies of her own. My 5 year old tells me she’ll live in a pink house and I can live next door. I, of course, said I would for sure live next door! I hope she never changes her mind on that! Then we can both be in our best place!

How about the brand new moms with the itty-bitty babies? The ones with the baby and toddler fighting for attention? Is their best place in the bathroom taking the longest, hottest shower in the universe while her children are being watched by another family member? Or is it in bed by 7 pm, sleeping in until she wakes up on her own, while the kids are overnighting at Grandma’s house? Is it out with friends, talking about all the fabulous things that are going on with everyone? How about just going to your own parent’s house armed with the enlightenment that all those things you once thought your parents did wrong are now the things you love the most about them. Sometimes, cooking and conversing with a partner is refreshing. Maybe it’s holding the babies, watching them sleep, wondering what they are dreaming about when those sleep smiles come across their face. What does it take for a new mom to say, “This is the best place to be!”?

Where is Your Best Place to Be? | Duluth Moms Blog

Let’s Keep Going!

Let’s talk about the moms whose kiddos are middle school and high school. What does their life entail? Signing papers, making sure homework is done, chauffeuring kids to school activities, helping them prepare for college, buying clothes and electronics that cost too much, deciding what’s for breakfast-lunch-dinner.  These moms may think the best place to be is Vegas or lounging on a beach chair someplace tropical. Or any place where they can say, “My kids are taken care of. I don’t have to worry about what to make for dinner, how to get them from point A to point B. I can just relax.” Is this you? Do you know someone like this? I know I do!

So, what is the best place to be?  You decide! What do YOU need? What makes you happy?  

I have learned that everyone is truly different, in every way possible. Our needs and wants may have some overlapping similarities, but in the end, we are different.  We were made that way. I think we were made that way so that life wouldn’t get boring. It is time that we moms take a moment to figure out where our best place is! Let’s find it, make it happen, and embrace it.

I took an online class recently about branding. The first part touched on finding out what we were all about. We did a lot of digging into our likes of all things around us. The teacher had us go onto Pinterest and pin everything that we thought our “Avatar” would wear, eat, live in, do. That avatar is you today. Take a moment on Pinterest, yes I’m giving you permission! Pin all those things that you love to wear, drink, eat and do. Pin what your dream house or vacation would look like. When you are done making your “YOU” board, step back and look at what is the main theme. You may find your ideal place to be.

Where is Your Best Place to Be? | Duluth Moms Blog
This is mine. I love to be drinking coffee under a cozy blanket, maybe crafting, camping, or baking! I love color and good fresh raspberries!

My challenge for myself, and for you this month, is to get to that place. Make a list of what you need to get yourself to a place of relaxation and rejuvination. Fill your bucket, go to your place, and enjoy life to the fullest!