As I sit here at 12:55 AM with my unwashed hair flipped on top of my head, pajamas smelling like spit up (now of which is making me question the last time I washed them), and rocking my baby back to sleep, I think about this challenging stage of life and think it’s only temporary. Years ago, before we had kids, we lived in England for almost 2 years. We traveled the world, explored new foods, and made the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But, there were difficult moments when I missed home or was put in new situations that made me feel uneasy. This is when a fellow expat friend gave me advice that now is carrying through life: “It’s only temporary”.
We think about the ups and downs of life and how these difficult moments feel like they last forever, especially when you’re in the thick of it, like the late-night wake-ups. I know, or at least hope, that I’ll be able to look back at this post and appreciate the effort I took to create a happy and healthy baby. I’ll look back to see that all those sleepless nights and days were just a fragment in time and not the everyday norm.
Babies, unfortunately, don’t keep, so you go into the next stage of life with toddlers and young kids. Going through those stages brings their own concerns with tantrums, talking back, potty training, and so many other moments. These moments bring frustration and holding back wanting to scream at the top of your lungs. But, when these moments are getting the best of me, I think back to my life motto: It’s only temporary.
Although I am not in the teen or even preteen stages of parenting, I am watching friends from afar juggle and handle guiding these individuals through difficult social situations, preparations for the future, and still trying to hold onto the moments where they still want to act like adolescents. I think the phrase “it’s only temporary” is starting to have a new meaning.
So, the phrase can also mean holding onto temporary moments in life. My kids will only ask me to cuddle with them for so long. There will be a time when they won’t ask me to play with them. Those times are just as important to recognize to make the most of the time you have with your kids. The older I get, the more sentimental I become, realizing what those experienced parents meant when they told me, “You only get 18 years with them”. And boy is that time flying by.
It’s only temporary is a phrase that I think most of us need to live by—thinking of this phrase during the most difficult times in parenting or even life. Thinking about this phrase in the happiest of moments with friends, family, and daily life. We only get one life. We only get so many years to be with our children. Use the temporary moments in life to appreciate the life we were given.
