May can be mayhem for mothers

Moms understand how busy May gets

Growing up, I don't remember May being so challenging to navigate. I just remember it being exciting and fun. I grew up in a small town in West Tennessee that holds a Strawberry Festival each May to commemorate the once-bustling industry of the area. Many of the strawberry farms ended up in Mexico years ago, but there are a few farmers still growing the produce today. It's a hard crop to sow, as it takes a lot of manual labor to properly harvest.

So when I think of May, I am reminded of my childhood festival and parade days. It's very different when you're the mom though, do you agree?

End of the school year recitals, plays, and projects happen during this time along with final exams and hopes for a fun upcoming summer. That's great for kids, but for Moms it can be quite challenging to juggle.

Mother's Day happens in May

I associate May with my mother, not only because Mother's Day happens in May, but because my mother's birthday was in May, too. So was my dad's birthday, but Mom was the one who made sure my life was filled with purpose. She was the one who made sure I had plenty of creative things to do outside of school. If it weren't for my mother, I'm not sure how I would have turned out because now that I'm an adult, it was the extracurricular activities that kept me going.

Keeping busy can mask what's truly important to us

I have kept myself busy all my life. An overachiever or accomplishment junkie is a good way to describe me. But now that I'm in my 50s, I realize that staying busy is a great way to lose clarity of what's truly important. It wasn't until my mother died that I suddenly was faced with my own reflection staring back at me, telling me that if I was going to do the things in life that I really wanted to do, there was no time to waste anymore.

But, I had healing to do. I had grief to process that I had avoided my entire life. As a busy bee getting things done, there was no time to process major life experiences. A lot of that got swept under the rug. For the next couple of years, I slowly allowed myself to be washed in it, to dig deep, and to allow my purpose to rise to the surface. It was my turn to change the trajectory of my life and for those coming up behind me. I didn't want to continue the cycle of doing what was expected of me.

I wanted to gain clarity to fulfill my deepest desires.

Fast forward to today, and I'm finally on the path, jagged and unsteady as it may be, to be a writer, an advocate, and a reporter of things that otherwise go unnoticed or overlooked.

Have you thought about gaining clarity for your life purpose?

You may not realize it, but there is something inside you that wants to come out. Whether it's fear or convenience or any number of things stopping you, I'd like to encourage you to take a few moments to allow your inner child to show up and say something.

I have a simple 4-step exercise you can take. It's available anytime, though we do run a live version of this from time to time. Would you please take a chance on yourself and do my free life purpose challenge?

Inspiration for the month of May and beyond

With a content calendar in place that is right for your business or influencer status, you can make engaging posts from the hip without overthinking it. Curate ideas with a week-at-a-glance or month-at-a-glance calendar to eliminate stressing over what to post each day.

Here are some ideas to get you going. If you'd like our full Funny Holidays digital calendar for the entire year to add to your online calendar program, sign up to get it. It's free!

May Monthly:

Asian American Month
Date Your Mate Month
Foster Care Month
Gifts from the Garden Month
Lupus Awareness Month
Mystery Month
National Barbecue Month
National Bike Month
National Blood Pressure Month
National Hamburger Month
National Photograph Month
National Recommitment Month
National Salad Month
Older Americans Month
Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May Weekly:

Week 1 Be Kind to Animals Week
Week 1 Nurse's Week
Week 2 Wildflower Week
Week 3 National Bike Week
Week 3 National Police Week
Week 4 Emergency Medical Services Week

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 🌎 Sally Hendrick 🌎 (@go.sally.go)

Free Download: Stand Out from the Crowd with the Funny Holidays Digital Calendar

We have a free gift for you! It's a digital calendar you can add to your online calendar program to give you inspiration when you're ready to make your social media content stand out.

What you get:

Content planning instructions
Content categories
Deep dive topics
Digital calendar for daily inspiration
Recommended business tools
Special invitation