The glass half full

So, yesterday, I was talking to my therapist and I said to myself (and then out loud) words that I have said COUNTLESS times before… “It’s too much”…

Now, everyone says those words sometimes.  And then we all go on. Well, ok, not everyone just goes on. But many do.

“It’s too much”.

I’ve been so ashamed to say that out loud.  After all, there are so many with so much less and so much more to do than I and I am so fortunate so how can I possibly say that it’s too much. I’m a single parent.  Single parents  are supposed to do what I do. Long hours at a job, being mother and father and chief cook and bottle washer and doctor, lawyer and Indian Chief…  How can it be too much if every other single parent out there is doing it?

Well… it is.

Just because it’s too much doesn’t mean we DON’T do it. That statement doesn’t let us off the hook for doing what is necessary. But  what we single parents do IS ‘too much’ for one person to do.

 In the standard family unit, there is always some inequality in the chores that make a household run smoothly. But, in most, the burden is carried by TWO people. In households like mine, that burden is carried by ONE person.

Now, the big thing here isn’t that I, and other single parents do a lot.  What IS a big thing is that I can SAY that and know that it is ok to say that because it is true. I’m not tooting my own horn. I’m not being a martyr  I’m not trying to garner  sympathy or accolades.

 I’m not a hero.

It  IS ok to state a simple fact.

And it is also ok for me to recognize in myself that I do accomplish a lot. And that I will continue to accomplish a lot. It is ok for me to recognize me for what I do.