Announcing the Getting Past Perfect Book Club!

Join us as we read and discuss Getting Past Perfect: How to Find Joy and Grace in the Messiness of Motherhood, by Kate Wicker.

With honesty, humor, and practical wisdom, Getting Past Perfect helps moms overcome Pinterest-inspired perfectionism by replacing your deepest fears and anxieties with a steady trust in God and the freedom to love authentically.

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.

Here’s how it will work:

We’ll post a reflection each week on Saturdays, beginning with an author interview on March 25, 2017. We have a team of writers who will be reflecting on each chapter and posting discussion questions. You’re welcome to read along with us.

You can participate in a few ways:

1. Read along.

2. Leave comments on each post with your thoughts and impressions or even take a stab at the discussion questions.

3. Interact with other commenters.

4. Share the posts and the discussion in your real-life networks and/or your social networks.

Our reading schedule:

(We'll link to the posts as they are posted. The links won't work until that Saturday.)

• March 25 - Interview with author Kate Wicker
• April 1 - Foreword, Introduction, and Chapter 1: Queen Mommy
• April 8 - Chapter 2: I Love Motherhood—Except When I Don't
• April 15 - Chapter 3: Perfectionism, Supermom's Kryptonite AND Chapter 4: Let the Mothering Games Begin!
• April 22 - Chapter 5: Mom the Martyr
• April 29 - Chapter 6: I Am Mother! Hear Me Roar! AND Chapter 7: The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
• May 6 - Chapter 8: When There's No Joy in Mothering or in Life

Want a Book Club reminder?

You’ll get an email with a link to the newest post in the CatholicMom.com Book Club. Sign up by filling out the form below with your name and email:

Don't worry, we won’t share your email address.