Confessions of a Natural Mom

🙂 I had to nod and smile at most of these. There are quite a few I haven’t done yet, thanks for the list!

Wow this is really interesting. I will look into all those things, because it interest me. I will one day become a mom and why not start now to be more natural.

I only said “yes” to about 15 of them, but I said “have thought hard about it and might” or “I would if I could afford it” to the majority of them. My heart goes out to all those who are expressing feelings of being overwhelmed by this, or are experiencing mommy guilt. I don’t think this whole “mommy guilt is natural and we are all burdened by it” is right at all! I doubt very much that women throughout time have suffered such guilt. I think it is a consequence of our modern lifestyle – our excessive striving, our perfectionism, our constantly comparing ourselves. It is so unhealthy! Ladies, please, please let it go! We don’t deserve to live with that kind of burden! Stop comparing and trust yourselves! You can do this! As far as going to down this path and getting overwhelmed – you just take one thing and make the change and see how it goes. And when you feel ready, you make another change. I love what the commenter said about doing it for herself first, and when she felt she had it right, she does it for her whole family. That’s what I do, too. I try it and see how it makes me feel, and if it’s good, I do it for my family too. There’s no need to see it as a must-do list so that you pressure yourself to do everything here. Just do one thing at a time as long as it makes you happy and it feels good. As for worrying about the things that you have not done yet – please, please stop torturing yourselves with that! There is nothing good that will come out of worrying! God even tells us in the Bible not to worry, that it will not add one day to our lives. Feel good knowing you have done the things you have, that you will do what you can in the future, and that it is all in God’s hands anyway! I can’t do some things on this list because I lack the energy due to a health problem. And I don’t do some things because of lack of money. But I am happy with what I do, and each time I try something new, it is a satisfying, fun, rewarding experience! Please stop looking at the list as a “to-do” list that mocks you and tells you that you are failing your kids because you are not doing all of them! Look at the list as a list of fun and rewarding things to do in the future – whether tomorrow, next week, next year, in 10 years, or when you are 80! Health and wellness is a journey, not something you do overnight. Please ladies, feel my hugs to you and my encouragement that you are doing great – whatever stage of the journey you are on!

While I find your blog very helpful in so many ways, I can’t help but feel extremely overwhelmed and a bit frustrated. Since having my first little one two years ago I have become very health conscious. I’ve challenged many things that mainstream deems as “healthy” and made many changes, yet in this process I’ve started to realize that there is no real “truth” out there. You watch food docs like “the china study” and “forks over knives” read vegiatarian, and vegan blogs books and studies and learn that a life w out animal meat is much healthier and could save your life in the long run… yet on the contrary you can read blogs like yours and things alike and the research you provide states the very opposite. I find this on almost every topic you posted about. I’m in no way saying you aren’t doing all the right things, or that your facts aren’t accurate, I just find it SO overwhelmingly confusing to know which direction to go, which “expert” do you believe? One minute I’m telling my husband that we all need to stop eating meat for example, and yet the next day I’m telling him we should eat more. People say do your research but I say if you do your research long enough you can find facts and studies that 100% completely contradict what the other is saying. I can take any topic you listed, look further into getting more info only to find “facts” that say to do the exact opposite. And im not just referencing recreational blogs where the information is more opinion based. I’m talking about blogs like yours, books, documentaries, etc where the sources are extremely credible, where there are backed up with case studies, research, etc. how in the world do you dive into this lifestyle knowing which way is the “best” which way is “right?” I mean topic like soy (albeit organic gmo-free soy) vs. no soy for example. i mean your literature is so on point and very convincing yet i can find all sorts of other research that goes on and on to “prove” the contrary. I mean how do you chose? how do you know that your way is best? i say that not challenging you at all, more just curious, just wondering how you make a decision and have total peace with it even though you know there is info out there that says the opposite.

For a mom and wife like me who’s heart just wants so badly to do the right thing and guide my family in the right direction of whats best and healthiest I find all of this sooooo overwhelming. Who and what do you believe and trust? How do you make these changes without feeling like you need to hurry up because there are still a ton of “unhealthy” things you need to change in your life?!? How do you just pick one thing at a time when everything on your list can completely and dramatically change your health?! And when you add the innate mommy guilt so many of us struggle with, how do you not feel guilty for not being able to do all of these things at once, knowing that you are essentially intentionally making “potentially unhealthy” choices for you but more importantly for your children??

I so apologize for this rant, and for sounding a bit crazy 😉 I just had to express the sentiments of not only myself but also many moms in my community who I know read your blogs or similar blogs and instantly well up with guilt of not doing enough, and not knowing which changes to make, and how and why to make them. I think what you do is so awesome, and admirable, but I think you only identify two types of people, the people like you who are totally right there with you, the women who can say their confessional list is as long as yours, or the people who call you abnormal, weird etc. it would be so helpful if you could address those of us who are in a different category than the two mentioned above, the category of women, many of us moms, who believe that mainstream ways of life are unhealthy, that natural, organic ways of life are obviously better, us moms who want to have a list like yours but feel lost, overwhelmed and completely inundated with conflicting information that leads us to do nothing while feeling guilty that we don’t do more, and also guilty that we are consciously more or less killing ourselves and our families.

I see from your comments that there are many moms who are on top of it all like you and I cant stress enough how great i think that is, but there is a silent demographic of us that hesitate to respond or even read blogs like this out of feeling overwhelmed and confused. There are many who can and do read this list and feel more debilitated from being overwhelmed, confused, and intimidated, and I wanted to share that bc I do believe your heart is to help others not just those who are already at the level you’re at.

I hope and pray you in no way find this offensive because that isn’t my heart at all. This is merely me being a voice for those of us out there who would love some clarity and guidance on how to be healthier in a day and age where it’s hard to even get a clear answer of what “healthy” even is!! You seem to be so incredibly knowledgable so I thought by speaking up you might be able to give me a little more insight 😉

So sorry about the novel, thank you for reading 😉
Heather

Sent from my iPad

Looooooooove it!!! And do a good deal of them too 🙂 I am not weird, ‘they’ are weird, hahaha… Sneak liver in smoothies, use baking soda and ACV for almost everything, love essential oils (for almost everything), walk around with nasty hair (TRANSITIONING, lol), have bottles with kefir all over, safe glass jars around the house, plague everyone about homemade deodorant and make the kids feel VERY special (in a good way though) about all their homemade stuff and concotions 😀 I love living like this!!! My youngest sprays her on mag spray on and asks herself about her FCLO (she will be 2 tomorrow) It’s the perfect life 😉