I woke up one day and my daughters were 6 and 4 years old. I couldn’t believe all those years were already gone. I certainly didn’t sleep through it all (believe me, those girls kept me up plenty of nights!) but the realization that these years were going by so fast really hit me. Hard.

This was the treadmill I was on: working a demanding job well more than 40 hours a week, working a lot of nights from home, evenings consisting of quickly cooking dinner and the three B’s (baths, books and bed). And, I admit that I was checking email throughout it all. I felt like I didn’t have time to breathe, that I was missing so much and letting too much pass me by. I was in the moment, but not really in these moments. My mind wasn’t with my girls…it was with work, what happened that day, what I had to do the next day, what I had to do after they were asleep.

We get one shot at each day, to live each day to the fullest. Believe me, there are plenty of days where I don’t feel like giving 100% and I don’t. I was having more and more of those days. I thought to myself, I’m not only doing my family a disservice, but also myself. There had to be things I could do to step off the treadmill and take a deep breath. There had to be ways that I could be more present.

This revelation could not have had better timing as I was watching my oldest experience more and more anxiety. This is partly her personality, but I needed to learn how we could teach her to better manage her thoughts and emotions. We read several recommended books and you know what the common theme was? Just simply being present.

I’m not here to tell you that I’m a perfect parent because I’m not, there is no such thing. I created this blog to share with you my journey and hoping you too will want to use any of the simple, little things I’m doing to be more present each day. Every week I will post stories, resources, books and activities that I think could help us all be more present.

Is this going to be easy? No. Changing habits is really tough and takes hard work. Will I have bad days? Of course. Will I enjoy my life more with my kids and those who matter most to me? I think yes!

I do know this: living even just one day more present is the greatest gift I could give my children, my community and myself.

I hope you enjoy this blog and find the resources and stories helpful!