What My Second Baby Taught Me About Life & Business
Having my second baby healed something in me that I didn’t know needed healing.
But God did.
Story time: my first postpartum experience was nothing like I had expected. That was the point: I went in with expectations: and my world got turned upside down (sleep, feeding, working, all of it was hard!)
I felt guilty for not fully loving the experience—for having the “sundown scaries” as they call them, for struggling with things that I felt should come to me naturally, for not loving the “newborn bubble.”
It was also the pandemic. We lived far from family. My husband was in the army and had crazy hours. My business was fledgling, not new but not operating at its best—I was still learning a LOT! And—as I realize now—my first baby threw us some abnormal curve balls (every kid is truly different!)
My attitude? I was a victim of my sleepless nights, I had a “poor me” attitude, and I struggled to find gratitude in what was the most challenging season I’ve ever gone through. And that just piled on more guilt.
Fast forward four years to my second baby—a girl—with whom I had a completely different experience. Sleep was better, I was more confident, and I actually cherished my time with her as a newborn. Say what?!
I want to say that it’s because she was an “easier” baby—but I think there’s just as much about who I had already become as a mom. I knew what her cries meant, I didn’t freak out about every little thing, and I learned to shift my perspective on the hard parts (like those days where I was tired down to my bones).
That perspective shift changed the way I approach challenges.
I learned that I can do hard things.
I learned that not all difficult seasons last.
I learned to find the silver lining.
I was forged in the fires of challenge and came out on the other side with resilience and an unwaveringly positive attitude and the peace that only can come from the Lord (couldn’t have done any of this without Jesus).
Through both of those experiences, together, God showed me who I am as a mom—and I love and cherish that side of me. All along, he was using that first postpartum experience, combined with my second, to teach me a lesson about how strong I really was—to show me who I was through his eyes.
Tl;dr? These four lessons came out of almost five years of refinement and shaping by the Lord.
- Everything has its season.
- Your past doesn’t always have to be your future.
- Attitude is everything.
- Lean on the Lord.
Anyone else experienced a transformation like this through a challenge they didn’t realize was shaping them at the time?
Bible Verse:
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” —Isaiah 41:10
