Fear

When I started writing this entry it was called Mom Guilt. I then had a conversation with one of my best friends that made me think it should be Parent Guilt after hearing a story about her husband. Then as I was finishing the editing it dawned on me that it really all boils down to Fear.

As parents we feel guilty because we’re afraid of something. When we stay late at work or go out with friends we feel guilty that we aren’t at home with the kids because we fear they’ll miss us and possibly resent us at some point for not being home more. When we chose a school or church we question if we picked the right one for their needs. I could really go on and on because as we all know with parenting comes daily decision making. Whether you’re raising a child with special needs or a typically developing one we all have the same fears just on different levels over different things. It can be extremely overwhelming if we don’t seek some kind of comfort or outlet. For most of us it’s as simple as talking it out with someone we respect and feeling validated.

My parenting fears include not doing enough or being enough for my children and causing permanent damage that will affect them forever. My biggest fear with Brady is that I won’t always be able to take care of him on my own. Currently at just six years old he’s 4ft tall and almost 60lbs and I’m not going to lie it’s hard and I dig deep everyday but it’s worth it.

We all have personal fears as well. For me those are opening up and sharing in fear of criticism because I’m a natural people pleaser. It actually held me back from starting Beautifully Unexpected for about a year. I feared nobody would care what I had to say or maybe I would receive negative feedback.

Going back to my fear of sharing I’ve learned it’s the best medicine for overcoming whatever anxieties I have about life. Sometimes all we need is our closest friends or family to listen and give us comfort. Sometimes we need some tough love to give us a kick in the butt and tell us our fears are a far fetch and stop letting those thoughts crowd our head space.

The whole reason I started the blog was to help and inspire families with special needs kids. I never imagined it would be so therapeutic for myself as well as connecting me to so many amazing people I’ve met over the last month. With that being said I want to thank all of you for allowing me to face my fears and I want to invite you to do the same. Please share below in the comments or email me at beautifullyunexpected.hope@gmail.com.