Thursday
It’s packing day! The last day before our trip up north to the Cabin, where we’ll be off the grid for the next week.
In the absence of my usual means of self-help support (podcasts, online articles, meditation app), I’m making mental cliff notes for myself, which basically boil down to the following:
Before reacting, stop, pause, observe.
This is ongoing advice I’ve been absorbing from self-guided meditations (dealing with observing how you feel, the changes in your body, staying detached from your thoughts and feelings), and also from the books & articles I’ve been reading that relate with both adult and child relationships. When you feel overwhelmed/angry/stressed, take a deep breath and try to observe the situation as an outsider before making a choice about how to react.
Try empathy first.
Taken from a couple parenting books & articles that have been in the brain pan lately, I find this advice covers all relationships – not just those between a parent and child. Everyone wants to be seen and understood, not just kids. Before any change can occur, a person needs to be understood.
Sometimes, staying quiet is best.
Not anything I’ve learned from a book, this is just something that Life is trying to teach me right now. So I’m trying to listen.
The next week will be a mix of fun and exhaustion, similar to our camping trip. It’s supposed to be 90+ degrees while we’re there, and I’m looking forward to swimming in the pond and hiking around with the boys. Can’t wait to see my family either. As always, even in the best of families, being together can be stressful. In anticipation, I’m hoping to keep these cliff notes front-of-mind while we enter this adventure.
Will report back when we return!