1 Enlisted Soldier: as the daughter of a military man and for a short while my husband was enlisted and most of my friends from back home and my family have all served so I have to agree with this one absolutely!
2 Firefighter: absolutely!
3: Airline pilot: daily this person has hundreds of lives in his/her hands and that would be stressful
4: Military General: his/her decisions affect hundreds of lives every day
5: Police Officer: never knows what the day will bring
6: Event Coordinator: I had to do a little research to see why this one is on the list
7: Public Relations Executive: especially if they have well-known high profile clients!
8: Senior Corporate Executive: this one and the next one I'm not so sure about
9: Photojournalist
10: Taxi driver: traffic, rude customers, complaints, I guess I can see this one
I would have to agree that all those jobs are pretty stressful. I found 4 other sites that had the same list almost, the only difference was #1 was a deployed soldier and #3 was the pilots and included Air Traffic Controllers as well. But on none of the lists I found was a parent. I would have to say that being a mother is the toughest, most stressful but also most rewarding job ever! I can't even begin to count the number of hours of sleep I've lost, the number of blood-pressure spikes I've had, the number of ulcers I swear I can feel forming, or the money I've spent hiding all the gray hairs my kids have given me and I've only been a full-time mom for nearly 12 years. We joke around our house that I found my first gray hair a few days after I got married and since I got +1 when I got married.....well that must explain it.
The bible says "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" Proverbs 22:6. I've tried to always instill biblical principals into my children. From the time they were old enough to hear I've told them to treat others the way they should be treated, love everyone (even those that are hard to love), forgive those that hurt you and ask forgiveness for those you hurt, do what is right even if it goes against what everyone else is doing. And I've tried to lead by example. I haven't always succeeded but when I have failed, I have explained to my children what I did wrong and tried to make it a teaching lesson. But lately, my stress level is through the roof with one of my precious little people God blessed me to raise. I've spoken repeatedly with this child and tried to get her on the right path and she says all the right things and does all the right things when I'm around but when she's on her own she's a completely different person! I don't know how to get through to her. I kind of feel like I'm trying to drive a plane and the controllers just told me there's a huge storm I can't land for another 2 hours and I have about 30 minutes left of fuel onboard. Anyone else ever feel like this? Any suggestions? I've prayed on this and this is one of those instances I just wish I could talk face to face with God and have Him tell me what to do! I know I can't live my children's lives for them but it is soooooo painful to watch one of them make huge mistakes and go against everything I've tried to teach them. And how frustrating is it to have them listen to my words of wisdom, my teachings about how to treat people, how to behave and then find out that once they get out of my sight, they are completely against everything they've heard and agreed to do???
I was outraged a few weeks ago at Special K's middle school track meet and I had to post to Facebook about it because I hope to never see anyone have to go through what I witnessed. There were some students at the school that was hosting the meet who were out of class to support their classmates who were participating in the meet. Now, I'm not naive I know they probably just wanted out of class to goof off and hang out. Well, one of the host teams' members was running in the 100m dash. He was running his hardest in the race and these students were yelling to him during the race that they could walk faster than he was running and they said some pretty horrible things. He came into the stands when he was done excited because he'd just run his best time and they teased him relentlessly about his weight and how slow he was. I saw the hurt on this little guy's face and my heart just broke for him. I would never have let any of our school's students behave like that, I would have spoken up if I'd heard those comments and i felt compelled to post about it in the hopes that the students from our school would see it and choose not to act that way. Sadly, I'm sure the ones that are most guilty of that kind of behavior probably didn't read it or didn't care. But I got to thinking, what did those kids' parents teach them? Then I got to thinking what if they were taught to speak kindly to people, show support and build people up and they just chose to ignore those teachings? Then I was thinking if one of my kids ever acted like that, well I won't say what I would do but they would be in some big trouble when I got wind of it or witnessed it.
So, parenthood is one of the most stressful jobs. Motherhood especially with girls is tough! I want to be my daughters' friend but before that, I HAVE to be their mother. I want and I have a close relationship with all 3 of my girls but sometimes that fizzles a little when I have to be the parent and instill the proper values in them or correct them in their behavior or actions. Then I become the worst mom in the world, the step monster, hated person until they get over it. I remember feeling that way a few (ok many) times in my life but now I'm grateful for the moments I hated my parents. I'm sure in a few years, I've have an entirely different post about pre-teen and teenage boys or maybe it will be similar who knows?
Parenthood is also one of the most rewarding jobs ever as well. I'm a stay-at-home mom so I don't make any money at all. No, I don't sit around eating bonbons and watching soap operas all day. Most days I don't turn on the television at all until the evening if I'm home. I DVR most of my shows and try to squeeze in time here or there to watch one of them but my DVR is full of things I just haven't gotten to watch yet.....we are 11 shows behind on American Idol and don't get me started on my other shows.....My life lately seems to revolve around laundry, planning meals, driving kids to and from practices, going to watch kids in their activities, driving kids to church activities, trying to keep goats alive and healthy and get them ready for shows and laying down exhausted in bed every night but not sleeping because I am trying to figure out how to get through to them, replaying what happened during the day/week to see where I can improve my parenting, mistakes I've made etc......however, being a mother is also the most rewarding job ever! When I see my kids smile, get those unexpected hugs or "I love you's" or from the teenager the very rare but very treasured "thank you".......I don't need material things in life. My only hope is that one day, they will wake up and realize mom might just be right......and I hope especially one of them wakes up soon and comes to the realization. But regardless, I'm not going to change my ways of raising my kids just because one or all of them don't like it. God gave me these precious lives to raise in His ways and that's what I intend to do while I have them. I know all to well how precious life is, how we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. I want to raise my kids to make every day count and to live in a way that they can go to bed at night knowing that they lived a good life for God. I will just keep hoping and praying that I can reach all of them and maybe they can help reach some of the others that maybe don't have influences in their lives teaching them how to respect people, how to turn the other cheek, how to forgive and pray for those who treat them badly. In this life, my most important, rewarding, stressful job is teaching my kids how to be Christ-like and I will continue until I take my last breath and God calls me home.
Hope you all have a blessed day.
Hope you all have a blessed day.
