Never Say You're "Just" Anything

The last two weeks have been really long. Even with my mini-vacation last weekend, I feel really spent. Adele has had to work a lot and has had many on-call nights which leaves me as a the primary care-giver. I'm just exhausted and ready for a break! Fortunately though, she has quite a bit of time off approaching in the coming weeks and that's a huge relief for me! That means splitting the duties again. Hallelujah! Since starting this job, I now realize just how hard it is to raise children alone. Not to toot my own horn, but if I wasn't here, I don't know how she'd survive! I admire people who do this. I don't think I ever could. With one child, maybe. But with two or more, I'd lose my mind! 

It's stressful, but at the same time, quite rewarding. To know that I'm helping someone in such a big way makes me feel good. And I get paid for it. Sometimes when I'm thinking about my life, I say "I'm just a nanny", but I'm not just a nanny. I'm making someone's life easier, I'm contributing my time and effort to help a woman who helps others. Never say that you're just anything. Whatever you're doing in life, you're contributing to someone, somehow, somewhere. It may not be in a way that you immediately realize, but I guarantee you, someone is grateful for what you're doing. So, don't sell yourself short; you matter. You don't have to be a volunteer at a soup kitchen or build houses to make a difference. There's always something you can do to help someone. Of course, I'm not trying to discourage you from doing stuff like that, I'm just saying you don't have to do something extreme. Just do something, but realize that there's a really good chance that whatever you're already doing is making a positive impact in someone's life.

So, as much as I stress out and want to pull my hair out sometimes, I remember why I moved here in the first place. I turned my life upside down to help someone turn her life back around and right side up. My initial reasoning was to make a change in my own life and start over, but it turns out I had a bigger purpose. I knew that I was going to be helping this woman, but I didn't realize the impact my help would have on this family's every day routine and every once in a while, I get a random text from Adele that reassures me. She'll say something like "as always, thank you for all you do" or "we are so blessed to have you here, thank you again". Getting these kind words helps me to feel that I made the right decision in coming here. Feeling homesick is just an aspect of this life that I'm growing accustomed to, but it doesn't mean it gets any easier. I will miss home for as long as I'm away from it. Heck, I was homesick just living in Jacksonville which was just 90 miles away. But feeling that won't deter me from continuing to live my life and you should do the same no matter what your circumstance. Until next time, have a great day :) "And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight."