Tough love

I don't much like running.  I just can't do it.  Consequently, I've always had this admiration for those who run marathons and all that really tough kind of exercise.  Like there's some extra physical tough-ness gene I missed out on.  Or I'm a wimp. 

So I read with interest an article by Jillian Michaels on becoming a mother recently published in Self Magazine.  She seems pretty tough, after all.  Surely it's easy for someone like her.
But I really do know better.  Good moms are not made just by working harder.  You can work all night to get the baby to go to sleep, and still be unsuccessful.
It's not a toughness test.  Oh yes, there's endurance involved, for sure, but it's balance and expectations.  They are key.  Learning how to balance your needs with those of the child and the expectation that there really is no perfect balance.  And, just like the rest of us, Jillian struggles with those, too.