Getting Past Perfect
How to Find Joy and Grace in the Messiness of Motherhood
by Kate Wicker
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Mar 03 2017 | Archive Date Apr 17 2017
Description
If you have ever felt that you were not “enough” as a wife or mom, or if you're someone who struggles to do it all, Getting Past Perfect offers a realistic and reassuring portrait of Catholic womanhood, placing motherhood in the context of every woman's primary role as a child of God.
Kate Wicker—journalist, popular speaker, and author of the highly-acclaimed Weightless—shares how she shook off doubt and negative self-perception, finding self-acceptance as a mom and the desire to stop controlling everyone around her.Getting Past Perfect invites you to make this same journey as you learn to embrace the primacy of your role as a daughter of God, even amidst the daily chaos of raising children. Each chapter is designed to debunk the lies and expectations that moms often face, replacing negative self-perceptions with the truths of a woman's true calling.
Wicker, a recovering perfectionist, helps you realize:
It is perfectly normal to feel like you're in over your head sometimes.
You can stop obsessing about what other people think and start focusing on loving yourself and your kids just as you are.
Your primary jobs are to let God love you and to love him back. Nurture your prayer life and make time to remember that you are first a daughter of God.
It’s important to practice self-care no matter your stage in life.
Wicker openly shares how she unwittingly transferred her preoccupation with having the perfect body to being the perfect parent. By honestly sharing her mistakes and triumphs in the trenches of motherhood, Wicker reveals several common falsehoods mothers tell themselves in different seasons of their lives and how speaking the truth can liberate women to become better parents and the truest versions of themselves.
Whether you're dealing with endless "why?" questions, unexpected potty emergencies, or even the unanticipated change of a new pregnancy, Getting Past Perfect will help you learn how to lean into God's abiding grace. By closing each chapter with a simple reflection question and prayer, this book provides the tools you need to embrace the messy realities of family life and to emerge from feeling overwhelmed to knowing that you are first and foremost a daughter of God.
Features & Benefits:
Kate Wicker is a popular national speaker, writer, and podcaster. She is a regular guest on Relevant Radio and is well known in Catholic media circles.
Getting Past Perfect features a foreword by popular author and speaker Rachel Balducci and an afterword by Lisa M. Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com.
A Note From the Publisher
Wicker earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia (summa cum laude) in 2000. She is the author of Weightless: Making Peace with Your Body and contributed to The Handbook for Catholic Moms and Word by Word. Wicker also was featured on the Momnipotent DVD. She and her husband, Dave, have five children. They live in Athens, Georgia.
Advance Praise
“Kate Wicker is a myth buster on motherhood. Taking on many false truths Catholic moms hold dear, she unveils the unvarnished grace of the muddled and beautiful vocation of Catholic motherhood. This book is a must read for all Catholic women, whether they are mothers in body or in spirit.”
Mary Lenaburg
Catholic writer, blogger, and speaker
“‘Bloom right where you're planted.’ That's what you’ll want to do after reading Wicker's book about motherhood, friendship, and how to grow closer to Christ. Learn how to avoid being a martyr mom and how to work on your ‘momraderie.’ Reading this book is like having a cup of tea with a new friend!”
Sterling Jaquith
Catholic blogger and author of Catholic Mom Challenge
“Getting Past Perfect will make you feel like you have a best friend, cheerleader, and spiritual director right at your fingertips. Kate Wicker does an outstanding job of empathizing with the daily rigors of motherhood while celebrating the triumphs and encouraging spiritual growth. A must read for all new, sort of new, and seasoned moms!”
Grace Patton
Catholic blogger
“In Getting Past Perfect, author Kate Wicker brings candid vulnerability, humor, and wisdom to her observations about the vocation that simultaneously wrecks and builds, breaks and heals, flattens and sanctifies. Feeling discouraged? Read this book. Funny, insightful, and genuinely honest, Kate Wicker gives moms permission to face the negative messages that threaten our sanity while encouraging us to become the best version of ourselves. I am so grateful for this book and know it will be a blessing for many other moms in the trenches.”
Heather Renshaw
Catholic author, radio host, and founder of Catholic Women Rejoice
“For every mom who struggles and wonders if she’s the only one, Kate Wicker is a sorely needed voice of humor, realism, wisdom, and encouragement. Learn to let go, get past perfect, and let this gem of a book soothe your weary soul!”
Danielle Bean
Publisher of Catholic Digest and author of Small Steps for Catholic Moms
“From the moment I cracked open this book, I fell in love with it. Kate Wicker captures the beautiful, painful reality of motherhood perfectly as she guides those fortunate enough to read her words on a journey to discover the peace that surpasses all understanding. This book is a must read for all mothers and those who love them.”
Hallie Lord
Catholic speaker and author of Style, Sex, and Substance
“This book is a friendly antidote for mothers and their sympathizers struggling with delusions of inadequacy. With edgy wit and frank, personal testimony, Kate Wicker makes a convincing case for motherhood as an imperfect science—which, she persuades her readers, is exactly as God intended it.
Peggy Normandin
Host of EWTN’s Call Me Catholic
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781594717161 |
| PRICE | $14.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Bethanie R, Reviewer
Looking for some hard truths about motherhood? You have come to the right place. Getting Past Perfect is a good little book, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes even a little harsh. I had a bit of a hard time with this book, but it was because of me and where I am in my life, not because of anything about the book itself.
Each chapter covers a lie that mothers have come to believe and the contrasting truth. These lies cover the entire gamut of a mother’s life from dealing with newborns to having grown children. This book is really for all mothers, biological, adoptive and spiritual. Kate Wicker does an exceptional job at extending her book to mothers of all ages and types.
Each chapter features real stories from the trenches in it’s unedited reality as well as Gospel truths to help you through. As I said, sometimes those truths are a little harsh, but that doesn’t make them any less true or any less important.
For example, we all need the reminder that our children are not our own. God made them, God will dictate their lives, and God will ultimately welcome them to their true home. It’s terrifying if you think about it, but it’s also a bit liberating. You are tasked to do your best, but even if you screw up, God is the one ultimately in charge. As the title suggests, many of the lies moms fall for involve the pressure to be perfect. We forget that we are all (moms and children) God’s children.
I got the opportunity to read this valuable book through my membership in Netgalley. Thank you Ave Maria Press for the opportunity. It is available at your favorite bookseller now. I recommend it for all mothers.We are constantly bombarded by the “mommy wars” and we need these truths.
