In the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear he talks about the importance of showing up on our bad days. He suggests that it is not merely about the work that is done, on a particular day, that counts, but that when we show up for the bad days we are reaffirming the identity of the person we want to be. Using the example of working out he goes as far as to suggest that your bad workouts are even more important than your good workouts because you are fighting to not lose ground that you have gained during previous workouts.

As a mom I have a lot of really great days. I have days where being a mom fulfills all my little girl dreams of motherhood. I also have my fair share of days where I wonder what in the world I’m doing. I have days that are filled to the brim with self-doubt and I question my ability to give my children what they need at every turn. Some days are just dang hard and I dream of what my life would have been like had I pursued that job with the corner office instead of making a career of diapers and noise (so much noise!!). In these moments I have to remind myself that bad days happen in the office as well. No matter what path we have chosen in life we will have good days and bad days. The trick in all of this is showing up day after day. Choosing to be faithful, loyal, committed, to the work we have chosen.

I have periods of time that I am just barely showing up. Plodding or muddling along at best. This past fall was one of those periods. First my daughter got sick, then I got sick, the youngest got sick and it spiraled out of control from there. Somebody in the family was sick for 6+ weeks straight (Two plus months later, I’m not sure we have had two consecutive days where all felt well). As we were wrapping up school for Christmas break I went back to count the math lessons that we had done the last two months and was bracing myself for the worst. It had been a rough couple of months and I knew my son’s progress in math was going to reflect that. After I had counted I was shocked that we had done more math in the past month than any month the entire year. I knew that couldn’t be right and counted again. The numbers were right and we had plodded along doing the best we could and in the end our small (bare minimum) actions had added up to be a respectable amount of progress.

Would I want to muddle through life all the time? Heavens no! But it is powerful what we can accomplish one small act at a time day after day. Anthony Trollope said it very well when he said, “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of spasmodic Hercules.” Daily, each day, is the trick. We show up each day to tell our kids we love them, to wipe a tear, make sure they are fed, to discipline and though our efforts aren’t perfect each act of love is building them up to become incredible human beings!