Don't Be Afraid to Give YOURSELF a Pep Talk

I would definitely be considered a people-person and an extrovert, but, at the same time, I am also a home-body.  See the problem? I've spent my entire life with these two conflicting personality traits.

I've spent the last two days inside the house supervising some renovations. Four entire rooms of furniture had to be removed to leave the floors completely bare.  I was in the midst of this chaos yesterday when a friend called to ask if I could attend a last minute meeting today to discuss the Thanksgiving celebration at school - which I am already committed to helping out with.  I texted her a picture of my house - or rather the patio where all my furniture was being stored.  In addition, I have books and knickknacks all over the master bedroom and office.  Therefore, no, tomorrow morning will not be a good time for me to go to a meeting.  I seriously need to get this house back in order and go grocery shopping and clean and do laundry and cook a real dinner - the first one in a few nights thanks to soccer and limited access to my kitchen.

So you see, attending an 8:15 a.m. meeting the following morning was the furthest thing from my mind.   I was planning on staying home and putting my house back together after two days of chaos. While I am not a neat-freak, having a house in complete disarray is stressful for me and I longed to have the normalcy back in my home.

Plus, ugh, I don't know the other moms.  Am I up for meeting new people? I am feeling fat and frumpy,  I have a headache, and just got my period.  There, is that enough excuses not to go?

Last night, before going to bed and with my realization that I was simply avoiding this meeting for bogus reasons, I texted my friend and said I probably wouldn't be there but confirmed the time and place just in case........

When I woke up this morning, I gave myself "a talking to." Get up, go take a shower, put on some decent clothes and go to this darn meeting!  After getting dressed, scratch that, after finding a pair of pants I could breath in, I drove the boys to school and then proceeded to another campus where the meeting was being held. I met my friend in the parking lot and was immediately glad I attended. Not only did I get to see her, but guess what?  The other moms were really nice.  I actually had fun!

I felt much better after leaving the meeting.  Of course, I still had to go grocery shopping and when I got home I had to begin to tackle the mess in the house and do all those other things I mentioned, but I just felt more alive and awake.  I was actually less stressed and overwhelmed and in a better position to tackle all the chores.

This was not the case of me being unable to say no.  This was me coming up with excuses not to do something because I didn't want to put myself out there.  As soon as I realized this, I knew I had to force myself to go.  It's often easy to give others a pep talk, but it's usually difficult to grant ourselves the same words of encouragement.  This is definitely getting easier with age.


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