The Busy Season / My rant on Perpetual Complainers

It’s been a month since I’ve posted and the reason is simple. This is the start of my busy season – where my schedule becomes frantic, crazy – insane even! Enough with the hyperbole, but it’s true. Why do I have this crazy schedule you may ask? Well, after becoming a mommy I resigned from my job as a full-time teacher. However I chose to keep my afterschool positions of directing plays and coaching speech team. That first summer I added in-home tutoring to the list, next came directing plays for a children’s theatre company, then I started teaching gymnastics at my daughter’s gym, then I added teaching drama classes for an international drama franchise. I juggled all these positions at the same time, and did them all after my husband was home from work – so he was with our daughter. Except for the gymnastics gig, which I do 2 or 3 days a week, and can take my daughter with me (she is usually in a class or 2 while I’m there). Is it crazy? YES! Do my husband and I sometimes feel like single parents? YES! Is it hard? Hell, YES! But – it is worth it, or I wouldn’t do it. For the most part, I enjoy the positions I have maintained, and the extra income is not an incredible amount – but enough for us to pay the taxes and a few other things. When it got too stressful, I cut back. I no longer tutor, and I’m currently not teaching drama classes. So, here’s the deal: I don’t want to hear people complain about how they wish they could be a stay-at-home mom but they HAVE to work, whine-whine-whine, blah-blah-blah. There are ways to do both – but it’s not easy and requires hard work and dedication and sacrifice from both spouses. If you really, truly want to do it – you can. That’s perhaps my biggest pet peeve: when people complain and complain and complain about a situation but NEVER seem to try to do anything to fix it! Not just about the stay-at-home thing, but anything. I just want to shout: “You’re not allowed to complain about that anymore! Until you actually try to do something to solve the problem – whatever is happening to make you complain is going to continue happening. So either look for ways to make it better, or shutup and accept it!” I have, on occasion, gotten myself into a little trouble with this view…misery loves company, not a pep talk. Look, I’m all about commiserating on an occasional bitchfest. It’s when an individual continually returns to the same thing to harp on over and over and over…and over that I go into fix it or zip it mode. So that’s why – despite the fact I am insanely busy right now and rather tired- you won’t hear me complaining about it.