If I Could Do ONE Thing Over...

I have made my share of bad choices, learned lessons the hard way, and had to accept the consequences of those decisions.  Ever look back on your life and say, "Oh, if only I could do that over again, I'd do it differently"? 

There is plenty that I could live with the regret about, if I allowed myself to dwell on it, but many of my bad decisions have led me to be who I am today.  Some of those I learned so much from that I cannot bring myself to wish it were different.


One decision, though, kept me from learning lessons that would have been valuable in the life I'm living today!

If I had one do-over in this life, I would choose to be at home from 

the time I married, rather than waiting until we had our first baby. 

Yes, I'm still on that subject today, because I want to give you just a few of the reasons behind why I would do that over if I could.

1. The most basic reason is that it would have been SO much easier to figure out how to cook, clean, and manage my home BEFORE we had three babies born in three years' time!  It was difficult, at best, to care for one little one--and three little ones--while trying to teach myself these things.  Even before we had children, because I worked full-time in a 50-hour per week job, we ate a LOT of frozen pizza and Hot Pockets for dinner.  Ugh.  My husband would have loved the home-cooked meals I am able to make now!  But gone are the days when women were trained and prepared to be keepers at home, wives, and mothers before taking on the role. 
2. The second reason is that coming home only because a baby was born caused my mindset to be that the priority was to be at home to serve children.  But the first priorities are to be a worker at home and to serve my husband.  Why not choose to be at home for him?  PLUS....that keeps him in the mindset of being the sole provider for your home!  
3. The third and biggest reason I'd do this differently is because I am called to submit to my husband, and by taking a job, I placed myself in submission to another man.  There were many times that my husband wanted me to be somewhere with him, but I "couldn't" because I had to work.  So, I was not submitting to the one I was supposed to submit to, and, instead, choosing to submit to a boss.  (Yes, I realize that many of you are submitting to your husband by taking a job.  Please see the fine print at the end of this post to be encouraged in that area.)  

Changing this one thing would have had a positive impact on my life today!  Since I cannot actually go back to change it, though, I will just keep pressing on to becoming more skilled in this domain, so that my daughter doesn't have the same thing on her list of do-overs! 

 What about you?  If you had one "do-over", what would it be?  Tell me in the comments!