Mommy Envy

Did you ever get jealous as a kid?  I did.  I'll never forget the day my best friend got a horse.  We were 13, and I had dreamed of having a horse from the time I knew what a horse was.  I had posters of them all over my bedroom, I read books and magazines about them, I dreamed of taking riding lessons...but she was the one who got the horse.  I was green with envy.  (I got one about a year later...which is quite a story in itself.) 

It doesn't change too much as a mom, does it?  Tell me I'm not the only one who finds myself envious of other moms sometimes.  I must admit, I get jealous when I hear stay at home moms talking about their days with their kids.  I get jealous when I miss homeschooling my boys or going to storytime at the library.  I'm jealous of the moms who drop their kids off at school, run errands, work out, shop, and start dinner, spending the whole day being productive before they pick their kids up from school again.

But it's too easy to see only what I want to see.  It's easy to forget the days of not talking to an adult all day unless the UPS driver stopped to drop off a package or the boys had a doctor's appointment.  It's easy to forget the days when we struggled to make ends meet and worried about the debt we couldn't pay off.  It's easy to forget the days I felt like I spend the whole days running in circles, never accomplishing anything.

It's hard to see other moms living the kind of life I often miss, even when I remind myself that it wasn't always an easy life.  Being a stay at home mom was very rewarding, but very challenging.  It's in those times that I have to stop and remind myself of the unique blessings that I have because I work outside the home.  We have more financial stability.  We're now debt free (thanks to Dave Ramsey).  I've had the opportunity to meet many people that I would never have crossed paths with anywhere but my job.  I know that I am doing what God wants me to do.  Sometimes, though, I need a reminder to be thankful for my blessings instead of envious of the blessings of other moms.

How do you handle being envious of other moms?  Is that something you struggle with?  Click the My Community tab to join the discussion on my Blog Frog community!