I had a rough time for a few weeks. I liked my life, but felt a little down. I wasn’t depressed, I was just tired of the same things and facing the same problems, and not being able to keep a good attitude as much as I wanted. But one day, I received a nugget of good thought, that I needed.

Think of who you want to be, not what you want to do.

I focus a lot on tasks. What I’ve done, what I’m going to do. As I’m thinking about all the things which I need to get done, and then turn around and repeat the next day, it is discouraging. Doing things, often very repetitive things, is both boring and exhausting.

But focusing on being someone great is exciting. Trying to follow Christ’s example of peace and charity, trying to be a better person with His help, makes life mean more. What matters in this life isn’t what goals I accomplish, it is the person that I become.

So the kids are not wanting to go to bed at bedtime. Instead of getting mad because it is bedtime, and they must go to bed, I think of how I want to be a good mother, how I want my children to obey me because they love me. We took a magic couch ride to several volcanoes, dinosaurs, and a train station. And when the kids started to wrestle me (boys are like that), I ran away from them and trapped them in “cages” which were their beds. I wasn’t focused on just tasks, on getting them to bed. I wanted to be a good person, and it meant not getting mad, it meant having fun, creating games. It wasn’t exhausting. It was liberating, so much easier than fighting with them to get to bed.

My focus needs to change, so my thoughts are focused on striving to be the best person I can, the person I want to be. That’s not accomplishing a million things. For my life, it can be accomplishing little but snuggles and games. It is about being present and enjoying life, not for what can be checked off at the end of the day, but for the joy that comes in just living.