Life lessons I learned from my Mother-in-law.

This post is a tribute to my mother in law, a petite, spirited and a strong-willed woman. My heart is so heavy and I still cannot come to terms that she is no more. I have been thinking about all the good times we spent together and remembering the life lessons that I learned from my mother-in-law.

Life has to end, love doesn’t.

Mitch Albom

Like every other mother-in-law – daughter-in-law relationship, initially, we had a few ups and downs. But am glad that we worked towards strengthening our bond. My Mother-in-law helped me with many things which even my birth mother never cared about. My MIL was god sent and am thankful for her presence in my life.

I have great respect for her and I’m eternally grateful for her help with my 2nd (twin) delivery. Words cannot do justice to describe how grateful I was to have her when our twin boys came along. My hands were full with 3 kids under 4 and I was juggling with my new-born twins, an active preschooler and a part-time work. Thanks to my MIL, She took cooking off my plate and it was a huge relief to me. Any new mom would understand what a great blessing it is to not worry about what to cook for the next meal!

Life Lessons that I learned from my Mother-in-law

My Mil was a fan of jiffy cooking and I learned a lot about cooking without sweating in the kitchen. As a working mother, I find her simple kitchen hacks very useful. But apart from the tips and tricks in getting the household chores done, I also learned some great life lessons as well.

Focus on your unique gifts

My Mil was the youngest in her family. Everyone in her family were well educated and all her elder sisters were good cooks and homemakers as well. Which means she always had to find her niche in every aspect of life to stand tall amidst her well-groomed siblings.

I admire how well she had focused on her unique strengthens which made her shine bright. The tough competition from the talented bunch of people around her didn’t seem to bother her. She was always busy polishing her gifts.

Be the strongest advocate for your kids

My Mil was an exemplary mother. Born to narcissist parents, I had never experienced the mother-child relationship that I saw between my Mil and her kids (including my husband). To be honest, I was a tad bit jealous too 🙂 I don’t know about re-births, but if there is one then I would like to be born as her daughter.

When I become a mother I made it a point to be like my Mil. Whether your child is four or forty, you should always be their strongest advocate and their best cheerleader ever.

Another quality that every parent must follow is to praise in public and criticize in private. I have never heard my Mil bad mouth about her kids or about me to anyone. As a child, I was always belittled and mocked in front of our relatives. Most of my relatives know me only from the angle in which my parents had projected. But that is is not the truth.

For a long time, I struggled to prove my worth. But within a few years of my married life, I took my Mil as an inspiration and started focusing on what I’m good at instead of worrying about how bad I am with the rest.

I’m not anywhere close to being a perfect parent, but am trying hard not to poke a hole in my kid’s self-esteem. I understand that as I parent, I can boost their confidence by not belittling them in front of others. And correcting them (this sounds gentler than criticize) within the four walls of our family.

Willpower is greater than physical strength

I have always admired my mother-in-law’s will power. She has shown me that age or physique doesnt matter at all. It is the will power that will help us navigate through the storms we face in our life.

As they “where there is a will, there is a way”. Never giving up on our passion and dream is a unique strength. And to acquire that, we need to build our will power.

Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.

Dan Millman

Believe that you can and you are halfway towards your goal. Will power will motivate to pursue your dreams.