Beautiful Things I Have Said No To Doing

Earlier this week I wrote about a powerful phrase "That's beautiful, but it's not for me". I explained why I think it's awesome, but I wanted to give you some real world examples of this phrase in action. Here are seven beautiful things, that are good things, but they are not right for me.

1. Being "just a mom"

I tried to do this one. I spent about a year with my first attempting to feel fulfilled wholly within in my newborn and my husband. It just about ruined my mental health.

God did not give me talents and gifts that allow me to feel fulfilled solely by motherhood. Since I'm not going to claim to know better than God, I'm going to follow his lead on this one.

2. Catholic school

We happen to have a wonderful Catholic school attached to our parish. I love the people who go there, the principal, the curriculum, the healthy culture they have fostered.
But I'm still homeschooling.
Homeschooling happens to be what works for our family dynamics, our time needs, and my children's needs. I don't know how long we'll homeschool, if we might someday use the awesome Catholic school, or public school, but this is what rocks in our family right now.

3. Homeschool Co-ops

Even though I love my homeschooling, homeschool co-ops have not worked for me. Partially this is because I have all little kids, and we're not beyond my areas of knowledge yet. Part of it is personality based. I really enjoy getting to knock out our school at home, and then when we leave the house we are off. We might still be going on a field trip, but the kids (and me) are having a break from sitting and doing school. I really don't want to pack up all our stuff, haul all the little people into the car, and go somewhere else just to do what we could have done at the kitchen table.

But come later elementary/middle school, I can almost guarantee this is going to be a different answer.

4. Breastfeeding

I have lots of thoughts about breastfeeding, and most of them still come down to what I said back in this post.

No, I don't breastfeed. God gave me a body that can make babies, but doesn't make mature milk. But God had the mercy to do it in a time and place with access to safe water and formula, and I'm forever grateful.

5. Having all the babies

It is absolutely a beautiful thing to welcome babies as they come, but my husband and I have discerned that's not what we're called to do. NFP is no fun walk in the park, but it does allow us to have some spacing on babies so we can get to that physical, mental, and emotional place in our family to say yes with joy.

6. Latin mass

Yes I wear a veil, and dress up for church, but I love me my Novus Ordo English mass. I just like it done well.
I think the Latin mass, and Extraordinary Form, are beautiful, but I enjoy my reverent Novus Ordo.

7. Having that one best friend

I've written before, over on Everyday Ediths, about how I've missed the best friend boat. I don't have that one best friend. I still sometimes feel a little sad about that, but I have seen the fruit of being continuously open to saying yes to new friendships and new connections.

Did you notice that most of these things I have said no to are often "not right now"? I have no idea what God is going to call my little family, or I, toward next. We might enter a time when Catholic school makes sense. I can almost promise that some version of a co-op will make sense some day.
All the more reason not to limit my friend circle to people who are making the same choices as me right now!

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

What things in your life have you have to say no to? Or maybe "not right now"?