Imagine this; you wake up one day to the sweet voices of your children.  They are chirping at you like little birds, asking you to make chocolate chip pancakes for them while they lounge on the couch and watch you adoringly.  You kiss them on the top of their heads and tell them they can either get themselves some fruit and cereal or wait 45 minutes for breakfast, because you are going out for a jog.

As you are lacing up your shoes, you are not thinking about what a terrible mother you are for putting yourself first.  Instead you are thinking that you are a rock star mom teaching your children self-reliance and modeling self-care.  When you return, you take a quick shower and bang out two Mickey Mouse Pancakes that would give even Martha Stewart a run for her money.

Imagine this; you are at the office.  It is your daughter’s birthday and you have promised to take her to her favorite restaurant for dinner.  A meeting that was supposed to start at 3, got rescheduled to 5 and now you are sitting in a conference room at 6:15 in a meeting that was supposed to be over an hour ago.  You quietly pack up your folders and papers, announce that you have a 7:00pm appointment that cannot be changed, but you will follow up tomorrow with a colleague to find out what you missed.

As you walk to the car, you are not beating yourself up for not being the last one out the door.  Instead, you are imagining the amazing birthday cake that you will share with your daughter in just a couple of hours and your colleagues learn that you can be fully responsible for your work without turning your life over to your job.

Imagine this; your friend (another mom at school) asks you to lead the school fundraiser this year.  This is the big one, with a silent auction and sit down dinner.  You are honored to be asked because it is a big responsibility, but you say no because your time is precious and you already struggle to find enough of it for yourself and your family.

You give her a hug and offer to help her brainstorm other people to ask.  You also agree to take on a much smaller role at the event itself.  As you leave, you are not feeling that you have let her down, the school down, the children down and the entire community down.  Instead you are patting yourself on the back for finding a way to contribute without giving yourself away completely.

What would your world look like if Mom Guilt didn’t exist?

If you would like to find out, I hope you will join me in the FREE 5 Day No Guilt Challenge.  We are going to have so much fun kicking guilt to the curb!

Putting my sharpest toed boots on in L.A.,

Jamee

Photo credit: Maria Grazia Montagnari via Compfight