I posted a powerful video on Facebook for my followers , and the words from that video have been ringing in my ears. The speaker was named Caroline McHugh and she talks about how to truly be yourself. I listened to the talk this morning as I drove out to spend the day with my husband and boys who were camping this week at Dale Hollow Lake.

Her words seemed to come right on time for me. Convincing yourself that it is truly ok to be yourself is a pretty hard thing to do, isn't it? It's human nature to seek approval from others. But, at the same time, we are seeking approval from people who view us through vision clouded by their own experiences and prejudices. How then can we ever be perceived fairly? The answer is we cannot. So then, why not just be authentic? What do we have to lose? No matter how we try to portray ourselves to others, those around us will come to their own conclusions about our motivations and our core values. We will never be able to change that. By not being truly authentic in order to accommodate how others perceive us, we not only have to deal with their perception which is automatically a lie but also with lying to our own self. That's pretty tragic, huh?

I feel like I am getting closer to jumping off the approval train. It moves too fast for me and I have whiplash from the jolts of the train stopping and starting on its rickety tracks. I just want to BE. I know who I am and what I mean. I'd like to trust that the people around me do as well, but it really doesn't matter when it comes down to it.

"There are very few things that I think are gender-specific, but one of them is something I call “approval addiction.” The need to be liked, the need for approbation, or recognition, or for somebody to tell you it’s okay. I find more woman suffer from that affliction than men, and I think it’s one of the most debilitating things. When it comes to being yourself needing other people’s approval, loving somebody else’s opinion, and mistaking it for your own is one of the most debilitating things you’ll do on the road to being yourself. You will never, ever be perceptionless, but it’s important to be perception free." — Caroline McHugh

Link to Video:

https://youtu.be/veEQQ-N9xWU

I am hardly “mom of the year” over here. Entertaining my children sends me into an anxiety stricken state, if I am being honest. I’m working on it.

One thing I found that I can get through pretty well with my kids is cooking. I try to keep the recipes very simple and have the ingredients and equipment on the counter before we begin. Kids get bored very easily and if they have to wait for you to get everything out, the project will go downhill fast. Do yourself and your kids a favor and be organized before getting them involved.

We originally made these kabobs at the Discovery Center the day before Independence Day and the kids went crazy over them! They insisted that we make them at home for the 4th of July holiday. I was thrilled that they willingly ate fruit that wasn’t bananas and apples, so I was all-in. It’s super simple!

INGREDIENTS:

Two cups of cut-up of washed strawberries

One cup of washed blueberries

6-8 cheese sticks cut into one inch chunks

6″ wooden kabob skewers (snip of the pointy end with shears for safety)

Your kids can’t eat cheese? No problem. Substitute bananas or mini-marshmallows. In fact, any of this stuff can be substituted with other fruits as long as it can easily hook onto the skewer. Other fruit ideas are watermelon chunks, grapes, or kiwi.

DIRECTIONS:

Set all the ingredients out in a dish and let your kids have fun creating the skewers. Make it a learning experience by encouraging them to make patterns with the ingredients.

Above all, keep it fun and let the kids do their own thing. My three year old put about ten pieces of cheese on his. My control freak self wanted to correct him, but I kept that all inside and let him run the show. If they are having fun, what difference does it make?

xo Jaime