How to Embrace Chaos

In this week’s post, I thought I’d give you something a little different by sharing an excerpt from my ebook!

This excerpt comes from the beginning of the book where we talk about the things we need to remove from our lives that will allow us to live more fully and freely. Also, each day comes with an action step at the end, so you’ll see that here as well.

Now, let’s chat about how to embrace chaos. Enjoy!

Day 6: Quit trying to control the chaos.

Whenever our family of 5 is invited somewhere, I like to joke and tell people, “Just giving you a fair warning: We’re pretty much chaos wherever we go!”

But really, IT’S TRUE.

At the time I’m writing this, I have 3 kids ages 6 and under. When we take the kids out to eat, I basically spend my entire meal reminding them a bajillion times to sit down. I’m blowing on chicken strips to cool them off, cleaning up spilled milk, or bribing them to eat (which is, you know, the whole reason we went out in the first place).

And don’t even get me started on taking them shopping! Once, when Colton was 3, he ran away from me in Target, and thought it was funny to KEEP RUNNING as I was chasing him. Picture, if you will, a severely pregnant mama, running her cart through Target with a 5-year-old in tow, chasing a giggling 3-year-old. Luckily, he still lived to see another day after that stunt, but it was a close one. (Kidding.)

I tell you these stories because the older I get and the more our family has grown, so has the level of chaos that surrounds me, and I don’t always handle it well. I like to try to control the situations around me and keep everything tidy and in-check. The thing about life with 3 kids? I will burn myself to the ground trying to keep everything under control. I’m guessing you can relate?

Luckily there’s some good news: I believe God meets us right in the middle of our mess. I don’t believe at any point that He expects us to try to control everything (actually, He probably expects us to do the opposite and give more up.)

I believe we have a choice – try to control the chaos around us, or try to go with the flow and find joy in the moment. Gosh, it’s not easy! But I think it’s worth striving for.

Action Step: 3 things have helped me go with the flow and try to embrace the chaos instead of controlling it:

Giving myself grace. Go back to Day 4 where we talked about giving yourself grace. You’re not always going to get it right, friend. But you can always try again tomorrow.
Taking a breath when I start to feel overwhelmed. When the feels start bubbling up in my chest that our house is a mess or my kids are being too wild, I literally take a deep breath and let it out. It helps.
I ask myself what’s really worth battling. Does it really matter if my kids are being loud? Are they in danger? Are they being mean to each other or having fun? Running things through the filter of “Does this really matter” helps me determine if I need to step in, or just go with the flow.

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And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed. If you’re looking for more reading like this, you can check out my ebook here.

**OVER TO YOU: Do you often feel like it’s impossible control the chaos around you? What have you tried that’s helped to embrace chaos? Let me know in the comments below!