Hi rrmelecio,

I definitely feel your pain as family is also very important to me. Even though my parents raised me, they had a lot of relationship problems that made my childhood not as pleasant or I too envied my friends’ parents and wondered/wished to have born in a different family.

I’m not sure what I’d do if I were in your shoes. But I’ve worked so hard to make my mother proud of me since I was little. Sometimes I wonder if everything I’ve done was to make her proud of me. Fast forward, three years ago when I accomplished one of my major goals, I felt empty or unhappy inside. Since then, I’ve been listening to myself more, making my own decisions and I haven’t been  happier than before.

While I do understand the value/importance of putting family first, I realized that you can’t lose yourself or your life doing so.

RRMelecio! Welcome to the Life Success Engine Community! What an incredibly touching and inspiring first post.

Some may not know, but I actually was a single parent, raising my daughter from age 1 1/2 until she graduated high school. Some of the toughest times of my life, so that I have have HUGE admiration and respect for your mother ❤️

Rather than just share my stories with you, you offer,

My mom deserves to stay at home, relaxing and spending time with her grandchildren. My family means the world to me since they’re all I have left, and it’s been my goal since I was a kid not to disappoint them at all costs.

RR, may I invite you to actually set a goal around your desires?

Name a SMART goal:

• a Specific result of a
• Tangible outcome that is
• Authentic and Actionable – NOT a could, should or would; and that you ACTION will make a difference in achieving
• with an outcome that is Realistic
• in a specific named amount of Time

I dare you:  Use that formula to lay out your goal. If you will do that, I know I and the other Members of this Community will pitch in to lift you up, help you brainstorm, work to inspire you and offer tangible support as we are able until you either decide to give up (it’s your mom, you can’t do that, right!?) or until you ultimately succeed.

If you’re willing to take me up on this, do it now: post here in this thread, or in a new one your SMART goal with the exact formula I suggest above.

Can’t wait to see it. Again, welcome to the Community, RR. I can’t wait to see you succeed!

Mark Farmer
Founder, LifeSuccessEngine.com

Oh, don’t keep me posted on how things go 😉 …I’m inviting you to actually:

1. Write out your goal in SMART format *here in the forum* (there is INCREDIBLE power in writing out your goal and committing to it publicly); then
2. Post every day or nearly every day here, in the community:
   1. Writing out AGAIN the final result you are working for (there is great power in reminding ourselves, daily, what our main, superordinate goal is)
   2. Sharing, in writing, what actions you took to make that goal happen that day, along with the results of your actions
   3. And then sharing what you believe your next step is.

Look at Odmaa’s thread, “21 Days of Tidying Up” to see an example of this format: https://lifesuccessengine.com/forum/topic/21-days-of-tidying-up/

I understand that actually writing out a goal and then posting about it daily might seem like a really different way of approaching life. It might even not make sense.  But try it and you will understand the incredible power of doing it this way!