Sometimes I think about stopping writing.

I think about why I write in the first place, which is for myself, and then I think about how selfish that is.

Sometimes I think about stopping writing because it takes up so much of my time.

Yes, I try to fit it in before the kids wake up, when they are engulfed in a kid show on tv or when they are sleeping, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not often distracted by the actual task of writing, the desire to be uploading my thoughts into Wordpress or any of the many, but fleeting content ideas that cross my mind, while in their presence.

I've been blogging now for over a year and a half, and I mean steady, almost daily writing and every day, multiple times a day social sharing.

My website, my social media accounts, the articles I produce for other larger media outlets, they are all a labor of love; one that has gained me some notable recognition in big-name publications.

And, what I have come to discern, is that for any of us, if the job we are doing and the role we occupying is something we enjoy and feel passionate about, then labor over it we will.

And labor and labor.

Let's talk about the word labor here because I find it to be a ridiculously accurate way to describe my role as writer and it's also what I have done, times three, in a hospital resulting in the birth of three once-little-now-big, lovelies.

By definition, even if you sideline its meaning in relation to childbirth, labor is defined by the good ole' Merriam Webster Dictionary as an "expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory."

When the time comes that us human beings -- those that have children and those that don't, those with a spouse and those without, those that work and those that are unemployed -- find and have more than one passion, labor is what we will do, day in and day out, to live in pursuit of or production of them.

For me, my two greatest passions are my offspring and my blog, and they both require me to expend a crapton of physical and mental effort, typically under challenging or anxiety-provoking situations (and often on a time crunch).

So, what do you do when you wanna keep pursuing your passions, but there's no "birthing" or end in your immediate sight (at least not for another 12- 18 years)?

YOU GO TO BATTLE.

But, not with yourself and nor on the side of one passion against the other.

Instead, you fight every day alongside both of your passions, giving to each of them what you can, when you can, based on who or what needs more dire attention at the time.

You have to be methodical in your task tackling to be the most productive, and you have to brave enough to approach the day with an open-minded and energetic attitude. You also need the will to be flexible when it comes to the when and the where, as well as the manner of passion execution for the day.

Listen, I would rather be over-burdened but ultimately fulfilled, than more relaxed, but less inspired and motivated.

Can heeding one's passions be utterly exhausting? Hell yes.

Can heeding one's passions be shockingly invigorating? For damn sure.

So, what do you do when you enjoy your children and your work equally?

You find or make time for both.

You give what you can, when you can, to who or what needs it the most or merely where you want to portion it.

You also wholly trash the notion that you have to choose between the two or that your daily decision to focus on one or the other makes you sucky at the other.

How amazing is it for your children to see you doing work that makes you happy?

What a great example you set for them when you set priorities, ensuring that living breathing family members are always such, but so is doing what you love, what lights you up.

A lit parent raises a child who will never be in the dark when it comes to an understanding of the many roles a human being has in this world when they are committed to doing good for oneself, one's family and for others in their real or virtual community.

Today I received this comment above on an article of mine:

"These are the best articles I have read for us mamas! They make me feel rejuvenated as a mother of two. Thank you for your gift."

Remember how I said that sometimes I think about stopping writing?

THIS is why I can't.

THIS is why I won't.

The real gift is the chance I have to live and learn in this world next to all of you amazing mamas who are living and learning, too.

My articles may rejuvenate some of you, but you all reading them and relating to them, well, that rejuvenates me -- as a writer and a mom.