What do you want to be when you grow up?

Posted on: June 9, 2015 | Parenting

I have never liked that question.  I look back and my answer that I gave had always changed.

I want to be a teacher, a nurse, and so many more answers.  I really wish I would’ve answered with the truth.

What do I want to be when I grow up?  I want to be happy.

I want to find something that makes me happy and do that.  If I stop being happy, I want to find something else that makes me happy and do that.  Sounds simple enough right?  Unfortunately, no.

I found being a mom made me happy, but happy didn’t pay the bills.  After the obligatory 6 weeks, I was back at work and away from my happiness 8+ hours a day.  I found spending my life with the man I love made me happy, but again did not pay the bills.  I was not happy with the idea of being homeless and not feeding this growing family that made me so happy.

In 2012, I found myself in the position to be a stay at home mom.  I had a hard working husband that paid the bills and we did without the luxuries we didn’t need in order to help make this lifestyle change work.  I was happy, so very happy…for awhile.  I started to lose myself.  I started to forget that as much as I love my children, I still need to be me.  I still need to be a person who interacts with other people.

That’s when I found it.  I found what, outside of my family, brings me overwhelming joy & happiness.  I feel  like myself.

I am a mother.  I am a wife.  I am a doula.  I am a childbirth educator.  I am a placenta encapsulation specialist.  I am me.  I am Heather.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be me and I want to be happy.  I never want to stop.

---