Nurturing when you're not the nurturing type

There is a myth that says that if you are a woman, you are somehow programmed to be "nurturing".

Yea, right.  I love my children, but it takes every ounce of my strength and being when they are sick and demanding.  (Sometimes they get "too sick to even move", which is scary, but I can handle it.) 

That's bad enough, but this week we all had the stomach flu.  After I got it from my daughter, my husband soon followed, and we had a really unpleasant home for 3 days. I got the trifecta of sickness: painful period, stomach flu, and sinusitis, so I was essentially a non-walking zombie.  My husband came home early, locked himself in the bedroom, and it was as if he did not exist for several hours.

At this point, my puking was done with, so it was up to me to tend to the kids, the dog, and housework.  Yikes. This was NOT a fun week.

So how do I nurture when it's not in my nature?  I take a combination approach: just DO it, along with lots of prayer, meditation, and forgive myself when I lose my temper.  (The dog got the brunt of it this week, but that's better than the kids!)  I also take some time to think of others less fortunate - single parents, for example. How in the world does anyone do this alone?  (God bless them.) 

The answer is "because they have to". 

What got me through the last 3 days, in addition to lots of prayer, was knowing that this, too, shall pass. Nothing lasts forever, not stomach flus, or sinusitis, or dirty houses, or crummy dinner menus.  The week will end and next week will be better.  You tell yourself to hang on, because God doesn't give you anything you can't handle.

Right??

Share your nurturing nightmares here!