Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Do Tell - Three Things

Thing One

When I am pregnant, my personality is dramatically affected. Now that I've had my baby, and the crazy post-birth hormones are mostly gone, I'm turning back into my old self, and I love it. I'm so much happier. Everything is different, and I can't believe the changes. It's amazing that being pregnant has such a strong affect on me. So today I'm wondering how pregnancy has affected those of you who have had babies. Were you a different person during pregnancy? Or just a more tired version of yourself? Am I the only one who feels like I turn into someone else while I'm pregnant? Do tell!

Thing Two

Sometimes I worry that I've accidentally become part of a clique. This concerns me because I don't ever want to belong to a group of people that appears to not openly welcome others. I use the word "appears" because I think that people are often assumed to be unwelcoming when that is not the case. Sometimes there are other circumstances that contribute. For example, when I had Zoe, I sent out a bunch of text messages to people in my ward (church congregation). I realized, when I went back to delete the messages from my phone, that I only texted people who serve in the primary (the children's program of the Church). Mostly this is because those are the people I see all the time, and those are the people who specifically said, "Let me know when you have your baby!" Does this mean I'm in a primary clique? 'Cause that's not cool.

Additionally, if I hang out with other women during the day because I am a stay-at-home mom and they are, too, does that make us a clique? Simply because our circumstances allow us to spend time together? We may appear to be unwelcoming toward working mothers when really, we're not. We just have similar schedules.

I guess what I'm wondering is how do you differentiate between a group of friends and a group of friends with the negative connotations of a clique? What makes a clique? What makes you feel unaccepted by a group of people? Do tell!

Thing Three

I've never been a fan of push-ups. When I was in high school, my dance teacher made us do ten push-ups as part of our warm-up, and I don't think I ever actually did ten. I would just count to ten really loud while I did three. A few days after Christmas, on a whim, I decided to try doing some push-ups. I did three and just about died. I was kind of disappointed in myself for being such a weakling, so I've been doing push-ups almost every day since then. Today, for the first time EVER, I did twenty push-ups. I know that for many, that is a small feat, but I feel like a champion! It's amazing to me that my body has built up that much strength so quickly! I'm really proud of myself. What have you done since the New Year that you're proud of? Do tell!

3 comments:

Melanie said...

I've thought about the clique thing too. It's nice to be welcoming to everyone, but in order to develop deep friendships, you need to spend enough time with that person/those people for a relationship to develop.

I think one way to not appear cliquish is to make sure you do spend some time with those outside your core group of friends. For example, if you see other stay-at-home moms during the week, then you don't necessarily need to sit with those same friends at church, you can go sit next to someone you don't know as well.

Kayla Moncur said...

1. I'm a more barfy version of myself. But I do lose some of my rationality. Like getting reaaally upset at anyone who eats food that I was planning on eating eventually. Death to those people.

2. I have no idea what makes a clique but I suspect I am not particularly welcoming. I get very comfortable with my group of friends and usually feel really put out when one of those friends invites someone else in. It throws off my groove! It's not THEM though. It's me. I think I might just be a jerk.

3. I'm proud of myself for seeing a doc about a health concern. I've been putting it off for a long time and I finally sucked it up, found a doc through my insurance and went in.

Also, I think I can do maaaybe 2 pushups.

love.joy.lane said...

1. Not really any personality changes unless food-psycho counts. I really hate eating when I am pregnant yet am always starving at the same time. Only one thing in world sounds good at any given moment and at this moment it is "Coconut shrimp from Red Lobster" and I usually hate fish so I don't know what is wrong with me.

2. Cliques are far too complicated for me to address in this small of space.

3. I am proud that I have gotten my scriptures read everyday of this new year before my kids are up or at least while they are eating breakfast.

20 push-ups = very impressive!!!