My Mayonnaise Jar Lesson

Have you seen the Mayonnaise Jar Lesson being passed around Facebook lately?  I had heard it before...I think at a conference for college students getting a degree in non-profit management, but I can't be sure (and really it isn't important).  It was a lesson that made sense when I heard it, but somewhere between then and yesterday, I had lost track of it.  In fact, lately, I have been trying to sort out my priorities and not really getting anywhere.  Then someone posted the lesson and a few things became clear to me.  Among them?  I need to say goodbye to this blog.  I have not felt a strong desire to write posts for a while.  I thought it was because I had too many other things to do, but really? If it was important to me, I would have made time for it. 

As mothers it seems like we have a very limited amount of free time.  In the free time, we should be doing something that brings us joy and happiness and rejuvenates us so that when we go back to our kids, we are more sane than when we left.  This blog did that for me many, many times. 

In fact, this blog started as a way for me to connect to other people, to share my story, to get advice, and to attempt to make sense of the changes I was going through.  While I still don't have most of the answers, what I do have is a wonderful set of friends that I see on a regular basis, that provide support and comfort unconditionally.  It wasn't until I read the Mayonnaise Jar Lesson that it occurred to me that maybe the reason I haven't wanted to write posts lately is because most of my needs are being met elsewhere.  This does not lessen what I have gotten from all of you.  Your advice and encouragement has meant the world to me.  It is merely an interesting ah ha moment.

So all of this made me ask myself, "What will bring me joy?" and the answer I found is that I want to learn more about photography.  I don't know what that is going to look like exactly, but I have been taking a class at the local community college and I have signed up for a couple workshops in the next couple months.  When I grab my camera and am able to create a picture exactly how I envisioned it, I am overjoyed!  When I am able to share those pictures with my friends and family, I feel proud.  This is what I need to be doing in my free time.

So for my final question to all of you, what brings you joy?  What are the things that you want to make time for because they give you what you need (on a regular basis) so that you can be a better mom?


NOTE: I am keeping my Facebook page and Twitter account open and will continue to post on them.