You’ve heard it before—don’t sweat the small stuff. You’ve probably read articles and books and heard speeches and sermons—all geared toward encouraging us to not let all the little things get us down. But I know plenty of single parents who wonder what that means?! We can get so focused on holding it together on a daily basis that everything seems substantial. How do we even know what the small stuff is? After all, when you’re solely responsible for all the details in a family, it can be hard to figure out what you can NOT worry about…
Fear and anxiety can make us clutch and cling. That is a fact that can keep us from being able to let go of what doesn’t really matter. I know that when I am having a hard, stressful day—even the smallest things seem to become gigantic. Other days, when I’m in a flow or groove, those little things are not even a blip on the radar screen. As single parents, things can feel like they are flying out of control often enough to make us big clutchers and clingers! Now, we just have to learn how to relax our grip and let those little things go.
As a single parent, I’ve had to learn to prioritize my cares and concerns and conserve my energy for what really matters. BUT, what matters to me might not be the same thing that matters to another parent (single or not). For example, if my floors are vacuumed, I feel like I can take on the world. Another single parent might see vacuuming the floors as one of those small things that can be “let go” of –why stress and fuss over something that you can live just fine without?
For the sake of a harried parent’s sanity—gauge your energy level to match what needs to be done and let go of what you don’t need to do. There will be those days when you feel on fire, as if you can handle everything that comes your way, and there will be other days when just getting in the shower and dealing with a sick child will be all that you can manage. It’s okay. No judgment. Just let the small stuff go and focus on what you can and absolutely have to handle in the moment.