The holidays can be a wonderful time, but they can also bring stress and overwhelm. For families with unique circumstances, such as adoptive or complex families, the holiday season can be even more challenging. It's important to identify the specific things that are causing stress and disrupting your peace during this time. Whether it's managing extended family, dealing with illness or disabilities, or simply feeling overwhelmed by expectations, it's crucial to prioritize your peace and well-being.
Planning ahead can help protect your peace during the holidays. While there are many practical things to plan for, such as grocery lists and events, don't forget to plan for peace as well. Consider the disruptions you anticipate and what is robbing your peace currently. Is it external factors or internal struggles? Guarding your heart and mind against bitterness, anger, and hopelessness is essential. Remember, our hope as Christians is eternal, and we can bring peace not only to ourselves but also to those around us.
If you're looking for guidance and support in navigating the complexities of being an adoptive mom during the holidays, consider joining a program like Success For Second Moms. This 12-week program provides practical strategies and a supportive community of like-minded Christian women. By prioritizing your peace and seeking the resources and support you need, you can experience a more peaceful and joyful holiday season.
This blog post explores the challenge of self-doubt that can arise in the role of a second mom in complex adoptive and blended families. Trust in the primary caregiver, mom, can sometimes be lacking from non-biological children, not due to any fault of the (adoptive/step) mom, but because of the children's own backgrounds. This can lead to feelings of shame or unworthiness, which in turn creates self-doubt for the second mom. The post offers four strategies to stand up to self-doubt and build self-trust, including making and keeping commitments to oneself, practicing self-reflection and challenging negative thought patterns, practicing self-compassion, and prioritizing self-care as an act of self-stewardship. The author emphasizes that by building their own self-trust, second moms can authentically model this behavior for their children and help them develop their own self-trust.
Read more...
You may know that my tagline is “standing in the gap for second moms“ — so you may wonder,
what gap? Where is this gap?
Do you know what the gap is in your life?
See if this rings a bell:
ENTERING THE GAP...
The gap I have recognized is when you know something is wrong, and as mom you have identified that there’s a real problem that needs to be addressed and you begin to reach out for information, for resources, for help.
You may not know exactly what to call it.
You may not know if there’s something diagnosable…or what the cause is…even where to look for answers. But that doesn’t stop you. You’re told not to worry or given trite responses or over-simplified advice.
