I can’t make this up. How I failed again. #wahmfail

I sent this email to my list today and thought I’d share it on my blog, as it is just a little chunk of my life! Enjoy reading and also seeing that I’m human, just like you.

Oh sweet, patient friend,

Okay, so you are obviously asking. What happened to Iviana and my Fresh Start Prompts?!

I’ll tell you what happened and exactly what I learned from it. I’ll start by saying that the last two weeks have been total work at home mom hell. If that offends you, well all I can say is that it’s the only way I could describe it.

Please read until the end as I have some very valuable lessons to share from this at the end. Who knows, you may want to unsubscribe after this one.

As you know, I will never claim to be perfect, nor pretend that I know it all. I will no longer apologize for my mishaps. I’ll just share my journey and the lessons that come from my life as a work at home mom.

Here’s a not-so-quick rant about it. Let’s prep this with the fact that it’s right before Christmas and we have big family festivities planned. Lots of family, lots of presents, and lots of food. You get the idea.

In the meantime, I planned to release the Fresh Start program. I had it all outlined, scripted, and ready to go. The only thing I hadn’t done was record the prompts. Piece of cake right? Obviously not a piece of cake for a work at home mom with two toddlers and two businesses.

So this is when hell started to break loose. First, my kids got sick. Both of them at the same time. I’m sure you’re saying, “yeah, and? All kids get sick.” Well, here’s the thing. When my son gets sick, he requires a lot of attention. Otherwise, he will end up in the hospital. We’ve learned that with several bouts of pneumonia. Just part of the program when your child is born premature.

But that’s okay.

He gets stronger and stronger as he gets older and we learn more about how to care for him. Now we know that as soon as he catches a cold, we have to boost his immunity in lots of ways, use essential oils, and keep up with nebulizer treatments to avoid lung infection. He’s also made us an overall healthier family. Thanks son!

My daughter’s “cold” led to croup. I don’t understand why she gets croup every time but my son doesn’t. That led to sleepless nights with two crying babies and one tired momma.

All at the same time I was recording one Fresh Start prompt per day.Then it hit me.

Apparently, adults can’t get croup but they can catch the virus, which leads to different things for them. Mine led to laryngitis. Ugh! I had a nasty cough and no voice! No voice = no recording.

Are you ready for more? To top it all off with some lovely icing, my husband caught the stomach flu. Hooray! Not really. I’m being totally sarcastic here. So midweek last week, I’m fighting laryngitis, two sick kids, and a sick husband, I’m also trying to prepare for Christmas and working with photography clients who have last minute orders and photo bookings. Oh my!

Last but not least, I caught my husband’s stomach flu. It was awful. Pain, pain, very high fever, body aches, pain, and you know, stomach flu stuff that I won’t make you read. I hope I don’t ever get that again though it kind of comes with the territory when you have toddlers and, well, live in a world full of germs.

Sheesh. I didn’t even mention the family drama, business drama, and Christmas drama I dealt with in between all of that.

In the past, you’ve heard me preach about starting before your ready. That still holds true for me. I don’t believe in being paralyzed by fear or not putting something out because it’s not perfect.

But I do want to add something to that now. Don’t release a product or offering until it’s completely finished. You have no idea what life will bring, especially with little kids. Also, when something’s not finished, there’s SO much stress to get it done while it’s happening. Again, what was I thinking? Major wahm (work at home mom) fail! Next time I release something, it will have been finished beforehand. If I didn’t have kids, or a husband, or a zoo in my house, it may have been a different story. But I do, so that calls for more planning and preparation on my part.

I almost didn’t write you this email. I almost fell into the habit of worrying about you thinking that I’m a flake. But if I didn’t write this email, I wouldn’t be helping you realize that you’re human too, just like me.

I’ve recommitted myself to serving you and that comes with being completely candid about my crazy life. I promise to stay humble and tell you about my wins as well as my failures. That way you can also feel okay with the failing that leads to winning. ?

Being a work at home mom can only work with perseverance. Perseverance in parenting, marriage, cooking, cleaning, business, and sometimes even showering! You know exactly what I mean. As long as you keep chugging along like a choo choo train (as you’d say to your kids), you’re okay. In our case, slow and steady wins the race most of the time. And that’s okay.

I didn’t write you this email to make excuses, make you feel bad for me, or give you a crazy made up story to justify anything. It’s all for you to see that it’s okay to fail. If this didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have learned the lessons I’ve learned or reestablished lessons that I needed little reminders of. With this, I also wouldn’t be able to show you how incredibly human and not invincible I truly am, just like you.

I truly hope you’re having an awesome holiday and are a little more prepared than I am for Christmas or your very own holidays around the world!

With love,
Iviana

P.S. Obviously, the show must go on. I’m at least 60% better and strong enough to hold food down, tend to my babies, wrap some presents, and write you this email. In the next few days, I’ll also be finishing the Fresh Start Prompts since I have a voice and can speak long enough without gagging (oops, too much information). Oh well, that’s me! I’m also going to give you the opportunity to opt in to start from the beginning, if that’s what flows well for you.

Happy Holidays!