Well, hello there. Happy Monday! I just meditated and stretched as I listened to some crazy thunder and lightening. This time before the house wakes up is my favorites, and I am telling you it changes the course of my day. So many of you ask how I wakeup so early, well the thought of this little time right now is all I need.
I am checking in with all of you to see how your doing. Some of you started school, and some of you start this week! Some are homeschooling and some like us are sending our kids back in-person after 18 months of virtual school. EEEEk.
Has this new school year brought you any anxiety or worry? Because it has brought a different set of worries for me. A gut wrenching, everything I am doing is wrong and how the heck am I the parent, someone make decisions for me, kind of worries.
Every time someone asks how we came to the conclusion of sending Zoe in-person I pretty much tense up completely and want to throw up but instead say, the options were limited and we had to pick a risk. We picked letting Zoe ease back into social settings and getting back to being social with other kids in her class over homeschooling (virtual was not an option at our old school or this one) because it was right for her. But do I know it's actually the right one? Even though we do everything to make sure we stay healthy, do I know if we will actually stay healthy, and keep both our girls safe? No. I don't.
And then I try to over explain, mainly because I am worried I failed about this decision. Most of my existence as a mother has been as a WORRIER. Different times brought different levels, different kinds of it and it surfaced in different ways but the worry always been there. The truth is I had a choice, just like anyone else walking this path as a parent, educator, first responder or medical provider; I had the choice to also find the joy in this new season of life during a pandemic.
My cousin/sister/friend, explained it best, What if we changed the narrative in our head to a what if, that has some joy. Could that eventually outweigh the negative, worrisome and scary what ifs that has taken over my mama brain? If you change your thinking to what if *insert something positive like, ----------> this year goes great and we stay healthy and Zoe excels in school and at home.
Well, I have to tell you that it really works.
I do still let myself feel the feelings, I let myself have a good cry, say or write out my worries and then I move onto finding the joy. And finding the joy for me lately comes in the form of thinking out the best case scenario out loud. Sort of exercising my brain to go in a different direction.
Does it always work? Do I magically feel better? No and no. But do I see a difference from a year ago? Heck yes.
So I am not just telling you to "be positive", or "think of the bright side", I am telling you to work on looking for the joy in your worries by speaking into the universe that WHAT IF it was all ok. And then I want you to say out loud in that same what if sentence how it feels and and looks to be living through that what if.
What if we have a great week, we do our preparation at night like we planned and the mornings feel smoother and we up in time to have time for a little self care to start our days. What if the school day is filled with Zoe making a couple new friends and learning. What if she runs into the house with a big ol' smile and (I can see her face) telling me about how excited she is for school.
What do you think? Is this something you can work into your routine? I swear it takes some getting use to but in the last few months it's really brought me some calmness in crazy situations.
So cheers to the new week and to a new chance to have a great week.
xoxo
Natalie
PS This week, I am sharing what we'll be making with our apples this year,
0ur plan at socializing (safely) for Ami,
and some outfit ideas for mama.
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