What are you making it mean?

For the past two weeks my husband has been doing a job in Bear Lake, about an hour from where we live. He gets home about the time I put the kids to bed. Needless to say it’s been rough. I’ve had a lot on my plate and not a lot of time for myself. Which is totally okay! Just hard. The real reason I want to share this story is that the other night I totally 100% lost my SHIZZ! My basement had been a total mess for days and earlier that day my kiddos were not helping me clean it up at ALL! Then later my oldest got himself stuck nearly to his knees in thick, soupy, MUD! Just the thought of cleaning any of it was just too much. So I yelled and I screamed and said a bunch of things I’m not proud of. I also slammed our pantry door shut at one point which accidentally cracked a freaking hole in the door! No joke! Not at all my finest hour. But here’s the real question. What am I making ALL of that mean?? On the one hand I could decide I’m the worst mother in the world. Some of you might even be thinking that as you read. I could tell myself my kids will never turn out, that they’re going to become criminals, and worst of all it’s all my fault! This is the easy route that my brain naturally wants to take because it’s a human brain that’s super good at pointing out things that are wrong. But what’s the upside to thinking all of that? Those thoughts just leave me feeling sad, defeated, and in a huge pit of self loathing. But what if instead I decided to make all of that drama mean that I’m HUMAN. That I make mistakes but that I totally love myself anyway. What if instead I used it as an opportunity to teach my kids about forgiveness and what it means to be sorry? That’s an option too right? And I’m telling you my friends! It’s a much BETTER option! So next time some drama goes down for you, be careful what you make it all mean.