By Alicia Wilke

The lessons we learn in life can come from a variety of sources: friends, family, nature, diapers...yes, I just said diapers. You learn lessons from the things around you and I've spent A LOT of time changing diapers.

In this post, I'm going to share some ideas you can steal from bamboo diapers.

1. ABSORBENT

Absorb ALL that you can, as much as possible. Absorb music, books, shows, and films. Absorb tastes and smells and sounds to your ears.

Sit down once and a while and absorb the little joys of life: the way a river flows, watching your baby entertain themselves with a single toy on the floor, taking a good long deep breath of the onions and garlic sautée-ing in butter on the stove.

Absorb it all into your heart and feel so grateful you get the chance to do that.

2. NO LEAKS

'Leaky' meaning, gossip. I’m guilty of it too, and I never feel good afterward. It happens from time to time but it’s always a mess when it does. Stop yourself from being leaky. Be more like a diaper. Strong and soft. Holding your sh&* together.

3. NO COMPLAINTS

Let’s state the obvious, diapers have a messy job. Probably the messiest of any product out there.

Have you ever heard a diaper complain? Never. Not once. Despite the thankless effort, it puts forth day after day, the noble diaper hangs its head high (or sometimes low? Saggy?) and never complains. It shows up and does the work. Can we not ask the same of ourselves? I think we can.

4. NON-JUDGEMENTAL

Do you hear the diaper judging its user on the amount/type of contents they so feel like depositing into it? No. A diaper could care less either way. They know one day they’ll get a fruit/veggie puree meal and the next it might be McDonald’s.

Quit being so judge-y of not only your own self (it’s okay to eat healthy and eat occasional junk) or others (it’s okay when other moms do the same, it’s okay when other moms do it differently)

5. FLEXIBLE FIT

Parenting and motherhood can be overwhelming, especially when there is a constant social stigma to always have everything together and organized and perfected at every single moment.

The mothers who seem to appear this way I have always envied, until a Type A friend of mine gave me a peek into the high anxiety over-controlling everything inside her brain look inside her life. She said this is her curse, a constant need to be on and with it at all times. And she wrecks herself at night over it. She wishes she could be more like me, all over the place and kind of a bean show. Dropping the kids off in slippers. And pajamas. That I’ve been wearing for three days. Where I look at her and wish I could have had the decency to brush my teeth that day. Brush my hair. Maybe put on real clothes when I leave the house.

My point is: the grass is always greener on the other side. The diaper is always whiter on the other side.

I forgot where I was going with this. Oh yes- be more flexible with yourself and your schedule and life, be that you need to stop worrying about not being put together, or that you worry about how you’ll appear when you aren’t put together. Chill out. It’ll all be okay.

6. ELASTIC WAIST

Does a size Medium diaper worry about their waistline and hold on to their old “newborn” sizes in the closet for years and years with the fervent hope that one day, surely one day, they will fit yet again? No. They don’t.

When the diaper goes up in size, it does so with one thing in mind: comfort. The stuff of life. It is simply too short to worry about anything other than elastic waistbands, baby. Ditch the old sizes, and get comfy. Your body is beautiful at ANY size, and as long as you feel happy and good, what else is there?

7. CHANGE

If you feel crappy, make a change. Sometimes this is as simple as going for a walk to absorb some fresh air. Sometimes it’s the choice to not talk ill of anyone when they aren’t there or to say a positive thing to your friends/family/coworkers instead of a negative complaint. Sometimes it’s a hard thing like learning how to relax. How to be flexible. How to let go of the past.

Whatever it is, please know- it takes guts to change. You might have to close your eyes and plug your nose. Sometimes it stinks. But in the long run, it’s for the better of you and the huge thumping heart inside. So put your best foot forward, and be more like a DIAPER. Make the change.