energy and faith - question answered

This post contains religious content in the second part of the blog post.  You may choose to read just the energy question, which I answered first and then skip over the religious part if you like.  I do not blog about religion, but since this was asked in my question post, I promised to answer.  Have a great day, and I hope to see you another day if you are skipping this post.


This question was asked by Caroline.  She asked,

"Where do you get the energy to keep going?"



How do I get the energy to keep going?  Well, that's easy to answer!


 


 Okay, that was partly a joke.  I plead guilty to hiring YouTube Funny Cats as my babysitter on occasion.

There are few things to remember about me though, which will help explain why I am able to do what I do.

Currently:

1. I have one toddler and no other children.  
2. He naps and is independent (to an extent).
3. I do not have a job outside of the home.
4. I'm young-ish.
5. My husband helps out when he can with cleaning, cooking, and taking care of Owen.

It may sound like I am living a great life, which I am, but I think all of this will change as Owen grows older, Matt gets busier, and we have more children.  I think those five things in my life right now allow me to have what little energy I do have, and I am trying to enjoy it while I can. 

There are a lot of days I am pooped, and it's only 7 AM.   When I do workout, I have more energy for the day.  I work on projects and blog posts during nap time or at night time.  Owen sleeps anywhere from 1.5-3 hours a day.  That gives me a good bit of time to work on stuff, but I procrastinate like crazy.  So I lollygag on the computer or do stupid stuff around the house.  Yes, I do waste time, and I do hate it.  It's a vicious circle, and I am fully aware of it.  If Owen doesn't sleep, I keep him in his room for "quiet time" for at least 1.5 hours.  He does really well with that, and it gives me the much needed break I need during the day.  This will all be lost once Owen grows older and a second child is thrown into the mix. 

I do most housecleaning while Owen is awake.  Why would I want to sweep, clean dishes, or do laundry during my ME time???  That's how I view it anyway.  I do clean a little during nap times, but most of it is done while he's awake.  Owen likes to help me with all my chores, so it gets us together.  Maybe my idea of playtime should change!  Ha! 

But I guess to answer this question simply is is that it may look like I am capable of doing many things, but really, I am not.  I get tired just like the rest of you.  I'm generally an anxious person, so that puts a lot of stress on me, which drains my energy.  I am trying to find balance in my life, which I think can help exponentially with having more energy. 

There are some days though that I am super woman.  I get this burst of energy and paint an entire living room during nap time.  But those days are few and far in between.

I'm sorry if I had you fooled.  :)




LDS question
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"Have you always been LDS? My husband and a few friends grew up LDS, but left the church."

 As Caroline pointed out, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We are also known as LDS or Mormon.  I mentioned this as well in my About page.  

I won't get into any doctrine in this post because I simply do not feel like this is the proper place to discuss religion.  I like to blog about my creative side, and I feel religion and politics should be left to a different kind of blog.   I am happy to respond to Caroline's question though. 

To answer her question, yes I have always been a member of the church.  I would have to say that I didn't gain a true testimony of the gospel until I was 20 years old after I suffered from a few serious trials in my life.  I will also point out that I feel like I was not indoctrinated as an adolescent with the church's teachings as if I couldn't choose for myself what was right or wrong.  I choose to live this life as a Latter-Day Saint just like I chose to live it when I was younger.  We have our free agency to choose how we want to live, and in our church, we extend invitations to come unto Christ.  It isn't forced nor are people persuaded to our faith.  We invite people to come unto Christ.

In general, people leave different faiths for all sorts of reasons.  Maybe someone was offended or experienced a "Why would God let that happen?" trial in their lives.  Maybe they simply didn't want to live a certain lifestyle that is required by that faith.  Maybe they no longer believe in God or in a god.  Maybe they might feel hopeless and believe the Atonement cannot help them, so they may believe God couldn't love them.  Maybe they didn't want any accountability, so they felt it was best not to belong to any religious sect.  These are just some guesses, and I am sure there are many other reasons one might leave a particular religion.

I am happy to be LDS, and I am thankful my mom sought out answers long ago in 1980.   I will raise my children in the church, but ultimately, they need to pray and know for themselves what is true.  They need to develop their own testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and not depend on Mom and Dad's testimonies.  I cannot force religion on anyone, and I wouldn't want that to happen to me.  I pray that I can raise my children to love God and give them the foundation they need to face this world and trust their Savior.

It is easy to forget the wonderful liberties we have here in the USA.  We are blessed with religious freedom, which is a great gift that many do not have in this world. 

I hope that answers Caroline's questions!  Thanks Caroline!