Making the Choice

Life has been challenging these last six weeks here in the Miller household. No major crisis, but challenging. And like many of you I’m sure, we are so ready for spring! Finally on Friday, our snow began to melt, the sun came out and we hit 46 degrees!!! Spring is coming!

I re-discovered this quote a few days ago as I was grumping about.

The back-story is that I have not had my usual energy of late and my youngest turned fifteen yesterday, an age that sometimes comes with a bit of attitude! This particular daughter has been particularly saucy lately and I have had enough. On Friday, I finally accepted the fact that I am feeling resentful.

On this third go ’round of raising teens, I am acutely aware that I am still not as skilled at letting the comments and eye rolls just float away as I wish I were! When my energy is low, I tend to take things too personally.

The good news is that when I begin to feel this way, I know that I am not carving out enough “me time” and it’s time to take action!

• So, I went for a walk with a friend in the sunshine.
• I did my yoga practice first thing in the morning even though I had pressing emails to return and knew we might be a few minutes late to band!
• I made a list of responsibilities that I can let go of.
• I did some handwork, repairing Mrs. Thaw who comes to sweep away the snow. (You’ll get to see her on Tuesday!)
• I ate some chocolate.
• I made a “God box” into which I place little pieces of paper where I have written things I want to let go of, to turn over.
• And I have been carrying around a piece of paper with a quote that came from a 2010 calendar with gorgeous photos of exotic, far away places; here is what it says:

“We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.”

May we recognize the choice.

If you want help recognizing that you have a choice in how you respond to your children, consider booking a Mentor Session with me. Click the link for details.