Life Lessons on Family, Friends and Parenting

Recently, I read a book called "Of Mess and Moxie" by Jen Hatmaker, a Christian author. I made some notes on some things that really caught my attention that I wanted to share with you. 

'You don't have to be who you first were.' I absolutely LOVE this! I can relate because I am SO far from the person I was even five years ago, let alone when I was a teenager. Sometimes life goes very sideways from what we imagine when we're young. Despite our past decisions, we can still become the people we want to be no matter the age or season of life we're in. 

'The exchange between creativity and expression is incredibly fulfilling, even if not one other eye ever reads those words.' This one hit me because I do think of myself as creative and this blog is my way of expression. There are many times though where I feel like no one else is reading any of my words. Let alone gaining anything from them. 

The author talked a few times about friendships and y'all know my thoughts on friendship. The first thing I loved was to "Fangirl" your friends. Love, cheer and support the shit out of them!! Be their biggest fan and don't be ashamed of it!

The second takeaway on friendship is to have your girlfriends as "bonus moms' to your children. If you're a guy reading this - I see no reason why your "bros" can't be "bonus dads' as well. What this means is let your friends love on and help out with your kids. There's always room for extra love and advice. I, personally, would love for my kids to have someone to turn to should they not feel comfortable coming to me.

The last anecdote I loved(and this is something I've worked hard at this year) is "healthy adult friendships are a priority and life is better alongside them." This is pretty self explanatory, but having the right people in your corner is incredible. 

Parenting is another thing the author touched on more than once. As moms, we're all struggling and making shit up. How very true is this?! I've been winging motherhood for twelve years now and I've changed my parenting style more than once in those twelve years. 

Who has a teenager or has raised one? This book told me to embrace the teen years of my children. My oldest is twelve and while I'm very much looking forward to both boys growing - I don't want their sweet, close relationships with me to change. Right about the time I somewhat got the hang of this mom thing, everything changes and there's so many new experiences we will all go through and quite frankly, it's a tad terrifying. 

The last note I took from this book was to write a letter to your mom and dad. It doesn’t matter what it’s about really, just write the letter. They probably don’t know everything you’d say to them in a letter.

I hope this was helpful to someone and y'all can get something out of anything you just read! If you hate it, keep it to yourself! 😂