WHEN? It's the word of the moment. When I get some more time. When I get more money. When I am not so tired. When I get a new job. When I move into a new house. When I get a car. WHEN. I am so guilty of overusing that word! I wonder just how many times a day I have said that word in the contexts mentioned above, when speaking to the near or distant future.

This When syndrome that some of us mummies suffer from, I have found, is very dangerous when you analyse it. It feels like a quick fix Band-Aid approach to issues that we can take steps to fix now, or at least that we can try to fix.

It's no joke how difficult and challenging the role of motherhood is. It's fulfilling and rewarding too, of course, but there is no turning back as a mom. What is clear is that we just can't run or give up. Yes it's OK to think about it every now and then and wander off into Lala Land and the days of being single, and imagine what two school fees valued at $76,000 each could buy us, but then there's the reality.

Ladies, we are mothers. Our role is to nurture and love, forgive, teach, inspire, and introduce our young ones to the great power that is within them. We just have to do it.

We need to exhale and pray, forgive our faults and move on, ask for help, find out about part payments for school fees and kill that pride. It's OK to wait a semester to start the child on an extra curricular activity. Don't place high expectations on ourselves and cause self-inflicted pain that we could do without. As moms we already have a million naysayers expecting us to fail. But remember, women have for hundreds of years been doing this job and doing an excellent job at it with more children and less resources and technology. We'll be fine.

I think that as we journey through our Whens and If Onlys, we should challenge ourselves to do simply this, taken from the book Positive Thinking Every Day — An Inspiration For Each Day of the Year by Norman Vincent Peale: "Do your best and leave the results up to God."

Well, my WHEN just turned into NOW. Will you do the same?

T Talitha is a full-time wife and mother of three beautiful children. She is a business executive and an entrepreneur with a passion for sharing her life's challenges to help encourage, inspire and empower other mothers. Share your stories with her at allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com.