Snow Day Pity Party
This morning I struggled to start my chores. Yesterday I spent the entire day cleaning every cage, adding more bedding to all the coops, and giving everyone extra straw and hay for the snow storm. Needless to say my body hurt when I woke up. Then of course there was all the snow to deal with and I have an incredible dislike of cold and snow. So while I filled all my milk jugs and buckets with water to take out to everyone, I pouted. A lot.
The whole time I got my water ready, I had a pity party in my head about how awful it was that I had to bundle up and trudge through the snow carrying heavy buckets to take care of everyone. I had a whole long conversation in my head about how stupid it was that I choose to do this.
The whole way down the hill to the coops I told myself I should’ve picked something else to do with my life. I told myself if I was smart, I’d give it all up and just have a few chickens for eggs for my family, and then raised a couple feeder pigs and a beef each year for the freezer and not deal with awful winter chores. This crap of keeping breeders year round and constantly working to improve them is dumb and a lot of work and money, I told myself.
And then I realized I was being a big baby. I really did choose this life. There are so many people who would be thrilled to have my life. It doesn’t make the chores less hard, but I see people all the time who are talking about their dreams to have and do what I’m complaining and whining about. And then the more I thought about it, I realized I am actually living more than what my own dream was so many years ago. Why am I complaining when I literally am living even better than the life I’ve always wanted, and the life I still want if I’m being honest with myself?
So I stopped whining and took a minute to look around at the things I’m grateful for. I’m thankful for the ability to make this my full time job. I’m thankful that the thing I love feeds my family healthy food. I’m thankful that I’m physically capable of doing all the manual labor even if I ache afterwards. And if I really dig deep and be honest and maybe even nudge myself a bit, I can even be thankful for the god awful snow that makes me appreciate the warmer months so much more.
The chores were still hard after this lecture to and from myself, but the pity party was gone and I was able to do the rest while feeling grateful instead of miserable. So while y’all are out there busting ice and dealing with the snow, it might be helpful to remind yourself of the good stuff that comes with this life too.