Interview with Michelle (scribbit)

I asked Michelle of scribbit, one of the top ten most popular parent bloggers what brings her fulfillment in motherhood. She responded in an eloquent essay about the relationship between creativity and fulfillment. Read on for more of her excellent insights!

How do I define fulfillment? How do I find it in my life? How do I find fulfillment in motherhood?

Fulfillment is primarily about creativity. To be actively producing, creating, planning and working to make something—anything—is satisfying. Whether it’s as simple as making a dessert, writing a short story or growing a garden or as complex as giving birth to and raising a successful human being for me to find fulfillment I have to be creating. When I can look at something I’ve made it is physical proof that I’ve existed improved my surroundings.

Having small children can mean that finding time to do anything outside of providing basic necessities is impossible but I’ve found that even a few precious moments in each day for creativity—maybe as simple as writing in a journal—helps me to feel fulfilled. Keeping a list of my goals or “to-do” items then crossing them off as I complete them makes me feel as if I’m making progress. Cutting out anything that is unnecessary—prioritizing—helps me focus on the essentials and allows me to stay on-task.

Creativity and production being such vital parts of the job, I’ve wondered if perhaps women who find themselves dissatisfied with motherhood are in a strictly reactionary mode, dealing with one crisis after another (for whatever reason) rather than being in control of their circumstances. On days when I’m so busy all I’m doing is running from one place to another or dealing with multiple emergencies there isn’t time to savor the small joys and triumphs or to feel as if I’m in control of my schedule—it drives me crazy.

As I’m in a job that has no paycheck, no retirement benefits and stock options it’s up to me to find fulfillment because it won’t be handed to me. My goal has been to create a home environment where, when my children and husband walk through the door, they immediately feel they’re in a safe, comfortable, peaceful place among friends—a refuge from whatever might have hit them during the day and a place that they can’t wait to come back to. If I can do that then I’ve made their lives better and thereby made the world a little better. It may sound
corny, but it makes me happy.

Thank you so much, Michelle! I definitely agree that creativity plays a fundamental role in fulfillment, and so do many other people that I’ve interviewed. It’s literally awesome to remember that having a child and rearing a child are creative activities and the important role that mothers play in the lives of their children—and in shaping the future of society.

To read more of Michelle’s thoughts, visit scribbit, a blog about motherhood in Alaska (yeah, Alaska) and one of the top ten popular parent bloggers. Enter her May Write Away Contest for fun, prizes and intellectual exercise!