In honor of of Mother’s Day 2020, we are highlighting 25 extraordinary Momma’s who inspire our Chasing Blueberries Community!
Meet our mom, Tiffany!
Tiffany Stuart, New Jersey
Certified Health Coach, Owner & Editor-in-Chief of ItsMeLadyG.com, & Host of the "What In The Wellness With Tiffany"
CB: Who are you in quarantine with?
TS: My Other Half, Bryan, and our two children, 10 and 2 years old.
CB: What is your quarantine story?
TS: Quarantine has been quite interesting. While I've worked from home for some time before lockdown, I've always had a couple of days a week where I would have to work out of the house for meetings and other reasons. However, once those days were taken away, things became a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. I did not realize how essential to my mental health those few days were.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I started to realize overwhelm was creeping up on me. I tried to incorporate all of my usual holistic health practices, but they were just NOT working. Between the constant requests for snacks, conference calls, toddler tantrums, and keeping
an eye on the clock to make sure my 10 year old was signing into his distance learning classes on time, my brain was turning into complete mush.
Once my son's school day ended, I asked him to keep an eye on his sister in the living room while I prepared their lunch. She was not having it, and kept calling for me and asking me to pick her up. After a couple of minutes, I saw my son calmly kneel down to her and say "I
know you're upset and want Mommy, but Mommy needs a minute and you have to try to understand. Let's hug and maybe that will make you feel better in the meantime". It worked for half a minute, and she started back up again, but it was noticeably less than before. All of my mom genes filled with joy and I broke out in a full on ugly cry. He had no idea how much that a gesture meant to me, including how timely based on the events of the day.
My son came in the kitchen when I called out that lunch was ready and asked why I "looked like that" which is male talk for "Why are you crying?!" I grabbed him and gave him a hug, which he awkwardly accepted before running away because he knew a kiss would follow.
I pulled myself together and went on with the day as our new normal commanded. I think of this when the overwhelm starts to show up.
CB: What are 3 tips you would give to other Moms to help them during this time?
TS: The first thing I would tell fellow moms to help during this time is that YOU ARE DOING GREAT! Whatever you are doing or not doing, you're freaking rocking it, Mom.
I say that because right now it's easy to think you should be doing more or less of something or another, which can lead to an emotional funk. Know that what we are going through is a lot. It's literally never been experienced by others in our lifetime and there's no manual on how to do "all the things" correctly. So pat yourself on the back.
The next tip would be to find some things to be grateful for right now. While I may get overwhelmed by all that's going on, I also like to think about the fact that this time with my family might never happen to this extent again. As a child of divorced parents, navigating family life in this way was a challenge for me at first and took a lot of internal work. For the first couple of years, I wasn't able to truly enjoy seemingly boring family life simply because I was secretly struggling with what it actually looked like and how it operated.
But after doing "the work" needed for personal peace, I am secretly loving all this time together. It's kind of healing to see all the silly things I would have otherwise taken for granted if I did not have my previous experiences. So find something to be grateful for in
all of this.
Lastly, it's ok to do nothing. Stop being mentally bullied by all the perfect looking moms and their scheduled activities. That's their business, not yours. We are truly in a stressful time and it's ok to want to just sit and watch Netflix. Our bodies are trying to adjust and recharge. So let it. This may go on for a while, but it ultimately won't be forever.