Homemaking is Hard

Okay, so I know this was supposed to be an encouraging series. And talking about how homemaking is hard may not seem very encouraging at first glance, but please hear me out.

This actually kind of goes hand in hand with yesterday’s truth that homemaking doesn’t come naturally.

The Danger of Faking Easy

First of all, let me tell you a story that might seem a bit unrelated at first. When I had my first son, I was determined to breastfeed. I had this beautiful, rosy, dreamy image of snuggling and a baby who took right to it. I had been fed this image of what breastfeeding was supposed to look like and it was all sunshine and roses. When I started it for myself, it was hard. I breastfed him because I fought every step of the way for weeks. There was no sunshine and roses…at least not at first. Then I began to hear from women around me who wanted to breastfeed but gave up, thinking they must not be cut out for it because this “easy” thing was hard for them. But as I talked to more and more women, most experiences were more like mine–it was hard!

And I thought about what a disservice we’re doing to one another when we pretend hard things should be easy.

I’m telling you this today because I think we do the same thing with homemaking and motherhood.

We look at Susie Homemaker down the street and she seems to have it all together. She seems to have an easy time of it. We see these rosy pictures on instagram, facebook, and pinterest. We’re constantly fed this picture of how easy, and fun, and smooth homemaking and motherhood should be.

But in our own reality, it’s not easy.

So then we start to wonder why. Maybe we’re flawed since this easy thing isn’t easy for us. Maybe we aren’t cut out for it. And so many women are giving up, thinking that they aren’t cut out for it, because it’s supposed to be easy, right?

Wrong. It’s not easy, just like it doesn’t come naturally.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming

Sometimes I think we come into this wife, motherhood, and homemaking thing thinking it should be all sunshine and rainbows. So when it’s hard and we struggle, we feel like a failure.

Put an end to those thoughts. Don’t even let that thought take hold in your mind. It’s not hard because you’re a failure, or because you’re bad at it. It’s hard because, well, it’s hard!

So the first point of encouragement is simply an acknowledgement that homemaking isn’t necessarily supposed to be easy. If it’s hard sometimes, it’s not because you’re doing it wrong. Most likely, it’s because you’re doing it right.

The second point of encouragement is that it can be easier.

There’s hard, and then there is too hard. For a long time, my life felt too hard. I was spinning too many plates and dropping them all the time. I felt like I was drowning in chaos. I was constantly frazzled and overwhelmed because I hadn’t been taught homemaking and had no working systems or routines in place.

The blessed truth I found, and the one I want to convey to you is that homemaking doesn’t have to be that hard. (<–Tweet This)

I wrote my course A Peaceful Home, because I found some simple strategies that could keep me out of that place where life and homemaking felt like too much.

Because even though homemaking is harder than it looks in some of those rosy pinterest and instagram images, it also doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are simple and practical steps you can take to help bring more peace and joy into your homemaking.

Just to be clear, it will still be hard sometimes. But you can do it, and you can do it without feeling constantly frazzled and overwhelmed.

Continue reading here: Saving Money w/ a New Baby

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