Emotions Gone Haywire

Maybe it's postpartum, maybe its my birth control, maybe it's sleep deprivation, I don't know.. but I feel like my hormones are all out of balance. I'm a pretty emotional person as it is, so this is just over the top. I can pretty much cry over the smallest things or get angry over the smallest things. It's really annoying.

I'm beginning to realize that I need to make a choice about my emotions and how I allow them to control me. Parenting is hard enough as it is, but when emotions get in the way it makes it even harder. I want to be consistent in my parenting and disciplining, but it's very hard when I let my emotions take over.

I have to literally remind myself that I don't need to get emotional over something I watch on TV or when Jayden cries at preschool or because I didn't get to eat breakfast before church. Once I realize that I'm allowing my emotions to take over it's like I can see the situation clearly and gain my composure.

Another example is my relationship with my husband. Here is a situation from the other night: I was exhausted, I only had like 4 or 5 hours of sleep from the night before and it was late. We were watching Parenthood on Netflix and the episode ended. I wanted to go to bed, but Jordan insisted on watching one more episode. The kitchen still needed to be cleaned as well... So after watching about 3 minutes of the next episode I passed out on the couch. When it ended Jordan woke me up.. and I wasn't too happy about it. It was my fault that I didn't clean the kitchen and go to bed, I choose to sleep on the couch instead. Within the first 30 seconds of being awake I realized I could get really annoyed and angry about being so tired and just wanting to go to bed, or I could keep my mouth shut and do my chores.

I choose the ladder. It was hard. I just wanted to go off about how tired I was and how I didn't want to do the dishes and just be mean... but I didn't. And when I finally was in bed and ready to go to sleep I felt so much better about the situation.

Growing up I was always getting in trouble for my mouth... I had a bad problem of talking back and being ms. chatty cathy! My nick name at one point was motor mouth. But the Bible tells us that we need to control our tongue.

     "Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything." Proverbs 13:3

     "...be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry." James 1:19

Whether it's my children, my husband or some stranger on the street, I have to learn how to control my emotions and my tongue. I'm trying to set an example for my children to live by and I can't expect them to do as I say, not as I do. I have slip-ups and days where I allow my emotions to control me, but I'm trying to change that. I want to set the best example for my children that I can.