One of Life's Little Challenges(The Orange Rhino Challenge)...

Well maybe not one of the little challenges, but more like a big huge life changing deal...at least in our family.

I was recently introduced, by a friend, to the Orange Rhino Challenge. I was quickly intrigued and determined that this is definitely something for me to institute into my life and for my family. 

If you are unaware of it, it is a challenge to stop yelling. It is something that I have been struggling with for a while now(YES, I YELL, way too much, and way too often) and it has seemed to escalate exponentially over the last few years with each of the children. Everything changes with time and I am not at all the person(mom) I expected to be. As I brush my hair today and watch all the hair collect in the brush, I silently think, " It's just the hormone changes happening after baby #5."- He's 4 months old now and all those negative feelings and things like serious hair fall out, and postpartum blues, etc are going on right now.- It is really easy to sit and blame away why I yell...Today I feel like it is time to take control. It doesn't matter why I yell...I yell and it is unacceptable. Okay, so step one is done; acknowledgement and admittance.

Today I start on a new path toward a more peaceful and harmonious family life. I love my kids more than I could ever voice, so why the yelling? Stress, frustration, limited time, lack of sleep, cranky from not eating well, very short fuse to temper,  too much time together, no place to escape to, and sometimes just because I don't know what else to do. Some may be thinking, sure, I get that, everyone gets that way at some point, it just happens. Yes, I realize that too, I grew up with a lot of yelling and overall I turned out okay and I am not completely scarred, but I didn't like it then and to me it is not a good way to raise a family. I think that it should happen far less than it does in our domain.

Once you go down the path of using yelling as a tool to get what you need done it becomes a downward spiraling cycle that effects everyone in the family even down to the littlest. It puts everyone on edge and makes it difficult to move forward. Yes everyone is loved, everyone knows and feels love, but there is something else hanging there, a tension that is just waiting for that moment when mom has had enough and snaps, or when dad just doesn't feel like dealing with a situation, or brothers have had enough of each other, or there parent, maybe the sweet little sister has gotten into things that she shouldn't...it is a heavy cloud that just hangs in wait and in weight. A burden of proportions too much for anyone to handle.

So here's to a new start! For now I am going to use the rest of this month as my challenge, from there out I would like to go month to month and work toward a whole year. Things can always change, always be reversed, always made better...Love is stronger than anything out there. So I will periodically be posting of our trials, tribulations, advances, setbacks, breakthroughs, and overall progress toward Loving each other more. 

Wish us Luck!