Andie.ink

Sometimes we just have to let ourselves fail.

 I’m not referring to post-failure acceptance in which at the end of the day you are in your pjs, with a hot cup of something, wrapped in a blanket, breathing deep and telling yourself tomorrow is a new day.
You know? That acceptance of failure all those cheesy quotes on Pinterest point to?

Nope.
I’m talking about the,
“It’s-9A.M.-and-I-am-already-giving-up-because-I-just-spilled-my-coffee-all-over-my-pants-and-now-I-look-like-I-peed” kind of days.
Or those days where you find out you left your jump drive with the presentation you needed sitting nice and pretty next to the box of tampons you were depending on for today.

Or the days where child #1 spills milk and cereal all over while child #2 is pooping on the floor because you didn’t catch him in time for potty training while child #3 is over in the corning sharing the dog food with the dog and then the doorbell rings and you answer it without pants or a bra on and of course it’s two young Mormon boys who suddenly sport a deer in the headlights look once they get a glimpse at you.
OR nothing goes wrong, but in the words of Jim Carry’s character in Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, “I just woke up in a funk today.” At those moments…. when it’s overwhelming and tears are creeping up… choose to accept the failure that this day is.

Today I was attached to the internet all day. No joke. Every five minutes I just HAD to pop back on for something. My Kindle was glued to my hand.
Not because I am addicted (though 4 out of 5 of us in my household would vote that I am).

No, but because today my reality was just more than I could handle.

So, instead of trying to fight my current reality, instead of trying to fight my need to be in control of my day and then get more disappointed and angry when things didn’t go my way, I just let myself fail.
Yes, I’m sure I missed a moment or two with my kids that was cute, but seriously, there are hundreds of them a day.
Yes, I’m sure they felt blocked out for a moment or two, but seriously, they have to learn that Mommy’s world is not 100% about them.
Yes, I’m sure my brain melted a little, but seriously, have you seen the puddle it already is with three kids under 5?!
So, I knew at 8 AM that I was going to fail today. And I decided to be O.K. with that.There are just days where we should allow ourselves the gift of failure.

It’s like a sick day for life.

 It’s O.K. to have an off day. It took YEARS for my husband and I to understand that sometimes we just have grumpy days and it has NOTHING to do with each other.

And sometimes it has to do with PMS.

But mostly just because there was not any creamer left for our coffee that morning.
Mostly.

So, my challenge to you is to let yourself fail one day this week. See what happens. If you fail at failing… well then, good job at failing and there’s a new day tomorrow.
But if you succeed at failing, enjoy the peace it can bring simply by accepting you are going to fail ahead of time.Below is a selfie I took with my three kids about 10 months ago. It was a rough day and I JUST wanted a photo of all of us. This photo is about attempt #5 when, as you can see in my face, I just accepted my failure. It is now one of my favorite photos of us even though I look like I haven’t showered in a week.