Mother’s day was celebrated on May 12th in North America, and even though I have been celebrating mother’s day for as long as I have been alive, I was not aware of its origins.
What I found out was
that it was born out of an anti-war movement where women's groups were formed to reunite families that were divided by the civil war and to promote world peace.
Ann Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe were at the forefront of these movements in the 1860s and 1870s.
Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Jarvis took on her mother’s cause after her mother passed away in 1905.
The American version of Mothers day was created in 1908 when Anna held a memorial for her mother at
St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
Mother’s Day became an official holiday in 1914, a day to celebrate and to honor all the sacrifices mothers made for their children.
Mother's Day celebrated the second Sunday in May, is the day we honor our mothers and mother figures by showing
gratitude and appreciation.
If you are a mother, a mother figure, or a parent, you are more likely to put the needs of your child over your own. You sacrifice. It may seem like a strong word, but you choose to give up things for the betterment of your child. Here are some things you may have to relinquish:
Sleep
Time
Money
Instant gratification
Sleep: From the time a child is born, new parents realize that a good nights sleep is something of the past.
The feedings every few hours progresses to the comforting from nightmares to waiting up at night until they arrive home.
You learn to function with less sleep in order to tend to the needs of your child.
Time: Throughout a child’s life, parents dedicate their time directly or indirectly to their children. Your schedule revolves around your child.
From a newborn’s feeding time and sleep time.
Even as they age, school activities and all the activities they are involved in outside of school take up your time.
The planned stuff and the unexpected stuff, you do not get a day off. You have little time for yourself. You learn to
tolerate a little more stress and develop some patience.
Money: Money is spent to fulfill your child’s needs from birth.
There is always an attempt to provide them the best
things possible- food, clothing, shelter, education, and entertainment.
Sometimes going beyond your limits to give your child the best opportunities.
Immediate gratification:
The desired new shoes, black dress, the vacation, or the new car, is put on hold so that your child can go camping, play their favorite sport, join that club, or spend a semester abroad.
As a parent, you put off your desire for what you want right now to save for what is determined as more important.
You put your child’s needs first.
You may be asking what is the significance of highlighting these sacrifices in a newsletter that focuses on inspiring you to take the steps towards your dreams.
Looking at this brief list of mother’s or parent’s sacrifices, these are the same sacrifices you need to make in order to be successful at accomplishing your desires.
These are the same choices we need to make when fostering and nurturing our dreams.
We may need to give up sleep in order to work another hour on our side hustle or get up 30 mins earlier to work out.
We may need to invest a large amount of money in a course that will help us strengthen our skills or pay for personal training sessions.
We may need to take time away from our favorite Netflix series in order to focus on our project.
We may even need to put off the vacation in order to save money for the seminar we may want to attend across the country.
These are the sacrifices we may need to make in order to achieve what we most desire in our life.
I hear it all the time, "I don’t have the time or money to ….." or "I am too tired too….."
Interpretation- Individuals are not willing to make sacrifices to live their dreams. Is that you?
Are you telling your children the same thing? "I am not willing to make sacrifices so that you, my daughter/son can live your best life"? If we can sacrifice for the betterment of others, can’t we take time to relinquish some of our old patterns to nurture and foster the growth of our own dreams?
As you celebrate your Mother and the Mother Figures in your life, think about the sacrifices they made so that you could have the best in your life.
Wouldn’t the greatest sign of honor & gratitude be, living your best
life?
In Honour of your Mothers, Live Well!
~Nancy Movement is Magic
Nancy Smith Vibrant You Coaching "Faith, Focus, Finish"
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