Say it with us. “It’s not you, it’s them.”
Glennon Doyle is a popular parenting writer and public speaker. She has previously written about and given talks on her ‘loss to food, booze, bad love and drugs,’ having suffered from bulimia, as well as alcohol and drug addiction.
After spending time in hospital for these issues which she suffered with for over 20 years, Doyle is now the successful owner of the website Momastery, where she supports struggling parents on a daily basis.
So it's no surprise that a recent post of Doyle's on Facebook has struck a huge chord with parents all around the globe, getting over 35,000 likes in the last three days.
Doyle begins by recounting her hectic day with her children, which many of us will be able to relate to:
Kay. At two am child 3 shook me awake from a dead sleep to report with terror that: MOMMY! I JUST OPENED MY EYES AND IT WAS ALL DARK AND I WAS ALONE IN MY BED!! Once again, I explained that this was not a description of some shocking, unique horror but THE NORMAL PROCESS OF SLEEPING. “That’s just SLEEPING,” I said to my girl as she stared at me with a face that asked: "what is this “sleeping” of which you speak???? Is this something people DO?"
At nine am I sat across the kitchen table, bleary eyed, listening to child 1 present a serious case for why he should get PAID by ME for, basically, breathing. Just breathing is what I gathered from him. Existing. Something about human rights. I don’t even know. I don’t know. What I do know is that I was so freaking tired from child 3s Breaking Sleeping News that I just picked up my coffee and said: “I need you to stop talking. Just stop talking. Now, please.”
At 10 am I took child 2 to the store to get Craig a father’s day gift. There was a bird in a cage at the store. Child 2 spent ninety seconds with this bird. Upon leaving the store, child 2 looked at me and said, “Mom, instead of buying me a horse, I’d like you to buy me a bird.” I stared at child 2 and eventually said, “WHAT THE? I am not buying you a horse, or a bird, or even a popsicle. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, child? Get in the car.” It has been one full hour and Child 2 has not stopped talking about this bird. Apparently, I have ruined her life because- and I quote: “You say you value family, mom. That bird was my family.”
I do not know. I just do not know.
Speaking of the most common question she gets asked by parents, Doyle writes, "Every time I go to speak somewhere - tired, worn out, wild eyed mamas raise their tired hands and say to me, 'Glennon, I feel like I’m losing it at home. I feel CRAZY.'"
For any of us who have ever felt on the brink of breaking point after a particularly difficult day, Doyle has an important message to share:
LISTEN TO ME. For obvious reasons, I am no parenting expert. But I know a helluva lot about crazy. And I want you to trust me on this one. I want you to write this down and put it on your fridge for me:
IT’S NOT YOU. IT’S THEM.
IT’S THEM.
Listen: I spent time in a mental hospital and I am here to report that everyone, every single one of the beautiful folks.
I lived in there with was more reasonable than the small people I live with now. All of them.
YOU ARE GOOD AND NORMAL AND REASONABLE. IT’S THEM. The crazy is not in your head. It’s IN YOUR HOUSE. We have to wait them out. We just have to smile and wait them out. We have fought too hard for our sanity to lose it now.
Repeat after me: It’s not me. It’s THEM.
Have you ever felt like you're going a little crazy?
To hear more from Glennon Doyle's recent TED talk, watch the video below...
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