It's All About Perspectives

Recently I found an email I sent to a friend whose baby was born a few months after mine. At the time of the email my kiddo was about 6 weeks and she was still pregnant. We were talking about baby sleep and books we had read on the subject and I said... and I quote... "I think we're just lucky because he's a naturally good sleeper." I SAID THAT! I TYPED THOSE WORDS!

So I was trying to remember WHY I would've possibly said that... Was I intentionally lying? Was I trying not to scare her? And I realized -- he was only six weeks old. He probably did sleep well for a newborn. Everyone expects a newborn to get up every few hours. From the perspective of a first-time mother of a six-week old I really thought I had a naturally good sleeper. People do not expect a two year old to be up every few hours... which is what I'm working with right now... <sigh>

And there are much more serious issues that should be kept in perspective. I love the Twitter hashtag of #firstworldproblems. Examples of this include -- @Mr_Micha_ "Trying to get my fireplace app on my iPad to play over AirPlay on my flat screen. #firstworldproblems" and @MBvisor  "I'm getting a pedicure and can't figure out how the remote to the massage chair. #firstworldproblems" This hashtag basically gives western teenagers, hippies, yuppies and suburban moms permission to complain about the trivial problems in their life while acknowledging that said "problems" are, in fact, relatively insignificant.

I'm guilty of this too. I do it all of the time. I get pissy when kiddo is being needy or hubby is late getting home from work or my mom can't watch kiddo for a few hours so I can clean the house. I forget to be grateful for my sweet son or my husband's job or the fact that my mom has been cancer-free for almost 5 years. 

So even though it's no longer Thanksgiving, it's still the holiday season and a time to remember to appreciate all of the "gifts" in your life.

Merry Christmas