My Guilt Manifesto.  For all who stumble across this silly blog, I feel it's helpful to know how I feel on the following items.  I try to keep these things in mind at all times, and they really matter to me.

• When given a choice between doing something a new way, vs. the way it's "always been done", I personally tend towards the tried & true, trusting biology & time to sort out what isn't best for the human race.  I'm not much of a modernist.  I weigh the benefits & potential costs of the new thing & leave it aside if I find the balance to be toward the traditional way.  I believe that the natural way (from birth to babywearing, foods to fabrics) will work best for all but a tiny percentage of the population, in ideal circumstances.  (I'm not much of a relativist, either.)   But we don't live in ideal circumstances.  And my goal in sharing ideas I've found helpful is to put the information out there for those who might also find it helpful, NOT to judge anyone.  Period.

 

Have you ever had that moment where, just after discovering something amazing, you realize - "Oh no - my kids/self/pets have been w/o this all these years!  What have I done?!"  I think it probably happens to all mothers at some point, and plenty of folks who aren't mothers.  I tend to have a providentialist viewpoint - God knows the circumstances of the culture in which my knowledge & attitudes are formed, and provides the many graces and opportunities it takes before things sink into my rock-hard head.  Typically for me, it goes like this:

1. I hear about something and think, "That's INSANE!" 
   
2. I hear about it again and think, "That's nice that it works for them, but there is no way I could, b/c XYZ." But it sits w/ me for a few months or years.
   
3. I hear about it again and obsessively research it until I know everything I need to know to succeed, and then start.

I'm a nut, I know!  But at the end of step 3, I can either slide into the "Woe is the past!" or I can say, "God led me into this at the time that He knew I could make the most of it, and any possible harm that has come was allowed by His holy will, meaning that good may come of it.  Let it be done to me according to His Will!"