A baby can teach you a lot of things. For instance, the other day, I learned the lesson of dealing with circumstances in life that are out of my control. Allow me to elaborate.

A baby sleeps, eats, poops and cries when it wants to. Your life revolves around your baby. This means that you don’t always get to do things you want to do, when you want to do them. (This is something that people who want to have a baby should note). The baby, especially if they’re a newborn determines that.

This was a hard thing for me to grasp at first. Sure I knew this is how things work with a baby, but somehow I thought that I could still get around it. Wrong! This left me with two options then: (1) I could get frustrated and overwhelmed about how my life is no longer mine to do as I please, or (2) I could re-adjust and learn to deal with my changing circumstances.

For the first few weeks of motherhood, I chose option 1. And it didn’t really do me any good. In fact, it just got me more frustrated and overwhelmed! So of late, I started choosing option 2. I adjusted to my changing circumstances. Given that a goodnights sleep is elusive when you have a newborn, you sleep when your baby sleeps. So I slept when my baby slept, even if it was high noon and the sun, no matter how black my black curtains were, still came pouring through. Or I wrote Newsfeed posts (like this one) and edited articles for the next issue of The Local Biz Magazine when my baby slept or was happily occupied for a bit. Or I baked a cake for my husband’s birthday at 9pm last night because that was the only time I was able to after sleeping or working for most parts of the day… You get the idea.

Keep in mind that just because I got stuff done, doesn’t mean I got it done in one shot either. For the most part, I was interrupted several times when my baby woke up crying, so a task that normally would take 1 hour to do, would take much longer. But that’s okay. As long as I got it done, that’s an accomplishment on my part!

There are many things in life that are out of our control. That’s just how life works. Instead of complaining or whining about it, the best thing we can do is to learn to deal with and respond to our circumstances and readjust accordingly. I knew this before, but apparently I needed my baby to give me a gentle reminder. (Good thing he’s such a cutie when he does so!) But alas, that’s motherhood for you. Just ask Ashley Anthony our parenting Newsfeedger if you don’t believe me!

As my baby grows up down the road, I’m sure he’ll have a few more lessons to teach me, and I’m sure it will make for some awesome Newsfeed posts. Stay tuned!

About the Author

Wendy Chiavalon is the Editor-in-Chief of The Local Biz Magazine. She lives in Ajax with her family. She loves watching Pixar movies, salsa dancing, road trips and of course, baking and eating cakes (who wouldn’t)?! In her spare time, she doubles as a cake decorator, baking and decorating cakes and other goodies for special occasions. You can check out some of her work at www.wendyscakeshoppe.com and follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wendyscakeshoppe