Wake up in the morning… put the Mommy hat on (my personal favorite), interchange with the Wifey hat, as needed. Drive to work… put the Teacher hat on. Throughout the day, put the Nurse, Therapist, Clinician, Friend, Pseudo- Mom, Advocate & Healer hat on. Drive home… Mommy & Wifey hat, Chef hat (not my favorite), and Storyteller hat. After my son goes to bed, I put on my Business hat, Web Designer hat, Technology Student hat, and the one I really LOVE… my Writer’s hat (that one has lots of fun energy in it)! And so, you get it…
We wear lots of hats!
Now, here’s the deal… Wearing lots of hats is NOT a bad thing. The truth of the matter is, that as a parent, a professional, or well, a human being, we have many different aspects of ourselves to cover in a day and in a life!
We make connections to others with these hats that we wear. Wearing several different hats is not the problem. The problem, is trying to wear too many different hats at one time, and just going through the motions. When you do this, you quickly become resentful, depressed, and discouraged.
As you read my list of hats above (and that’s not ALL of them), you could quickly see that I’m a busy lady. I’m usually up late at night and I rise early, but I am mindful that I am a human being, and not a human doing.
What do I mean by that? There are lots of things we do in a day that we could classify as wearing a hat, but who we are while we’re doing them, is what makes all of the difference.
When I feel overwhelmed it isn’t the hat’s fault. Instead, it’s my own fault for not placing The ‘Taking Care of Me‘ hat on first!
Let’s face it, whether you are a woman or a man, you wear a lot of hats. My question to you is…
Who are you in those hats?
A funny thing happened a few days ago…
My son and I were walking out of the market and he saw one of those crane machines with stuffed animals jammed inside. Of course, he asked for 50 cents to play the game. I was hesitant because I know how those games are and I didn’t want to see him disappointed, but he persisted and I gave in. He put the coins in the machine and talked out his calculations about how he was going to grab this stuffed animal. I held my breath as the crane dropped and then rose again with no stuffed animal to drop in the bucket. To my surprise, my son was disappointed, but he shook it off quite easily. We held hands and walked through the parking lot. My son suddenly blurts out, “Ohhhh I get it now!” I looked at him and asked what it was that he was now getting. He responded, “I get why I didn’t grab the stuffed animal.” “Oh, really?” I inquired. His response, “Mom, I wasn’t one with the crane. You have to BE the crane!” I chuckled as we got into our vehicle, but he had given me a pretty HUGE message. Huh, be the crane…
Sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do until you get to the point when you can do what you really want to do. The most important aspect to focus on here is not what you are doing at the moment. Instead, focus on who you are while wearing any of your hats. Be who you truly are, no matter what hat you have on, and you will find that no matter how many hats you wear on top of your head, you can still feel good and shine your light!
Here are some simple steps to remember when you wear lots of hats:
1) Always put your, ‘Taking Care of Me‘ hat on FIRST.
2) Focus on one hat at a time, and give all of your attention to that one hat during that time.
3) Be the hat! If you have your Mommy or Daddy hat on, then just BE Mommy or Daddy in that moment. If you have your Boss hat on, then just BE the Boss.
Sure, the hats are going to interchange quite quickly sometimes, but focus on being YOU in those hats, one at a time!
Lots of Love to YOU and all of your hats!
Vicki
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