Physiological
- Sleep of any duration
- Caffeine
- WiFi
- A fully charged iPhone
- Enough space on said iPhone to store another few hundred photos without deleting apps, other photos, and/or increasing my iCloud storage capacity (again)
- Netflix
Safety
- At least 3 hrs of total sleep per night
- Therapy
- The ability run all of my errands by foot
- A walking path cleared through baby toys in the living room
- Turning on both the night shift and zoom settings of the iPhone for maximum screen darkness while scrolling through Feedly during a nighttime nursing session
- Baby gear that can be easily disassembled or collapsed when not in use
- A clear enough head to distinguish the brake pedal from the accelerator, my finger from a vegetable, and the cry of a baby from the meow of a cat
Love & belongingness
- Living with the best baby in the universe
- Having a wonderful, supportive husband (who also happens to go out of his way to buy me vegan chocolate)
- Speaking to another adult in person during the day
- Social media
- Receiving GIF texts from my sisterfriends
- Blogging
- A vast internet-based support system of like-minded moms
- Getting a big grin from the baby when I walk into the room
Esteem
- Making the baby laugh or smile
- Showering
- Brushing every last knot out of my crazy postpartum hair
- Painting my nails
- Hearing the words “you are a good mom”
- Remembering what I ate for dinner last night
- Replacing at least one cup of coffee or can of soda with a glass of water
- Leaving the house
- Narrowly avoiding spit-up being deposited straight into my bra
Self-actualization
- 4+ hrs of uninterrupted sleep
- Not becoming anxious when the sun sets
- The ability to speak coherently
- Feeling alert and well rested
- Drinking more water than coffee
- Eating a meal that wasn’t prepared in an Instant Pot or by a dude in a sandwich shop
- Remembering what happened between 10:39 pm, when I fell asleep on the couch, and midnight, when I woke up in my bed
- Daring to think I could actually raise two children
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