What are the things that bring you comfort? In a consumer driven, technologically crazed, overworked society finding comfort can be a challenge.

Even as a stay at home mom you find yourself panicking from the surge of parenting books you are trying to keep up with, to the unsolicited advice you get from other parents who always seem to ‘know more’ to society’s judgement of why you’re a stay at home mom or not. The list is endless.

I think what makes things much more difficult is the media, be it social, written, televised or radio, everyone today claims to be an expert with videos and content telling us what to do and how to behave or how to look. The result is an impending feeling of inadequacy and vulnerability when in truth most people are just as lost as you are.

Today I try to find comfort within the chaos. First by accepting myself and my shortcomings. I will never be a perfect mom or a perfect wife or have the perfect figure and I’m not even going to aim for perfection. I’m going to aim for improvement, for learning, for loving myself enough to take better care of my mind and body. The greatest lesson I learned is that in order to give love and care you must give it to yourself first.

Second I’m going on a social media cleanse. Enough with everyone talking and preaching like they know it all. Enough with people taking pictures of perfection trying to exhibit a perfect life that does not exist and enough allowing all this media influx to make me doubt myself.

Third is to find spirituality. Know that there’s another life in the ever after waiting for us and instead of striving to please and attain the senseless beauty standards, parenting advices, inexplicable wealth and the so called dolce vita of this world let’s work on attaining all that in the after life where our real world resides by practicing our faith and being more spiritual.

As for this stressful life today I strive to find beauty in the simplest of matters, beauty in the ordinary and in the mundane. Beauty in my family surrounding me, beauty in the cup of coffee I’m having with a dear friend, beauty in the flowers that surround my home and beauty in simply being alive. As our Prophet pbuh once said: “Whoever among you is safe in his home, healthy in his body, and has food for the day, it is as if he has his life and all that life entails.” The main lesson learned as I approach my mid life is that this life is a series of shock and afflictions in order to return us to the all mighty. Our true life isn’t on earth but in heaven where real perfection and and fulfillment reside.