Be Real: Your Chaos is Still Beautiful

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Do you feel your life is out of control? Do you only see the messes all around your house – the dirty dishes overflowing the sink, the clean dishes still waiting to be put away in the dishwasher, the pile of dirty laundry and the clean laundry getting all wrinkled in the dryer?

Do you hear your children arguing and think your brain might actually explode?

Do you hear yourself arguing with your partner and wonder, what am I actually doing right now?

It’s chaos.

Whether you are a mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, etc. – life gets chaotic.

This is what it looks like for me:  I’m running late because I stayed later at the office to finish just one more thing. So, I am already slightly stressed thinking about how I will get home about 30 minutes later than I planned. I am already running through the list of things I need to do:  make dinner, serve dinner, eat dinner, homework, exercise, feed the animals, laundry, clean up rooms…

When was the last time I cleaned the bathroom?

I am sure the dust on the shelves in the living room is so thick I could grow potatoes.

I am sure the kids’ backpacks have not been cleaned out in quite a while.

I know I could … I know I should … I need to …

Just Stop

Last week, I was rushing around my office to pack everything up so I could get to an interview for my part-time job. I was throwing things into my bag and making sure I had what I needed for the next work day. I must have set down and picked up my full coffee mug three times.

Then I went to grab yet another pen and knocked the entire tumbler of coffee – fresh coffee – onto the floor. It dumped everywhere.

I stopped. I looked at the ever-growing puddle of black coffee on the plastic carpet protector that is under my desk chair.

I laughed. Because of course I spilled coffee when I am already late. Then I ran for paper towels. I cleaned it up. Threw the now-empty mug into my lunch bag, grabbed the rest of my stuff, turned off the light and headed out the door.

Stuff happens. This was not a great moment for me. There are tons of not-great moments in our lives. I was late to my appointment, but I simply apologized and guess what, it was no big deal. The world did not end because I showed up late and yes, slightly frazzled.

It did not matter.

What mattered was that I showed up and completed the task I agreed to complete. I didn’t let the spilled coffee derail the entire rest of my day.

Sure, it was just spilled coffee – not a huge catastrophe. But, for me, it could have really messed up my attitude for the rest of the day.

I was moving too quickly. I was trying to be too perfect. And life doesn’t want you to be perfect. Life likes chaos because everything is naturally a bit of a mess.

And, that is OK.

Just stop trying to be perfect. Try to be the best you that you can be in this moment. Show yourself some grace. Clean up the coffee, straighten your glasses, and go forth with a smile on your face.

Look around, laugh at your misstep, and enjoy the beauty of your own chaos.

This too shall pass. And, you will succeed my dear warrior.