With social media running rampant with the images of fit moms, contoured faces, and perfectly cooked meals that look so delicious your mouth begins to water just at the sight of them, it's easy to feel a little inadequate sometimes. You might be wondering how these people pull off the seemingly perfect existence and, as a result, feel like you're somehow lacking. The truth is, of course, that there are so many reasons why you'll never have your shit together as a mom; reasons that are keeping every other mom (even the ones who look the most put-together) from having their shit together, too; reasons that are unavoidable, inevitable and, well, make it completely OK that you don't feel like you have your life in order.
I'm sure we could blame social media for our constant feelings of inadequacy. I mean,social media can make you feel like a really crappy mom sometimes. When people usually only show the perfected, filtered portions of their lives, it hard not to think that they're living blissful existences while we're struggling to get ourselves out of bed every morning. No one likes showing the world that they're a hot mess. However, I think parents were feeling inadequate way before Facebook or Twitter or the internet showed up. The collective "we" has always been comparing ourselves to others; a news feed just made it a little easier.
Perfection is impossible; Parenthood is all about making mistakes, and making them regularly; You're going to mess up and it's going to feel catastrophic (and maybe even, sometimes, be catastrophic); You're never going to have your shit together, at least not in the way that we all like to convince people we do. Life is unforgiving and doesn't care about plans and tends to creep up on us at the most inopportune of times and, well, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Honestly, motherhood just gives life more chances to mess us up. You're not alone in your failings and you're not the only mom who feels like she doesn't have it together and you're definitely not the only mother who is looking at Facebook posts from other mothers, quietly whispering under your breath, "Yeah, that's bullshit."
So, with that in mind, here are 12 seemingly insignificant but, in reality, absolute pain-in-the-ass obstacles that will stand in your way, every single day, from feeling like you have your life in order. Trust me, just because motherhood feels like a never-ending cluster of catastrophe, doesn't make it any less amazing. Some days, I guess. You know, what? Ask me tomorrow.