How We Thrive
Summer is near or HERE for many families. How are you feeling about this? Are you ready, prepared, and feel oh-so-good about what is to come? Are you dreading it? We are with you. Always.
I wrote a post this week called How We Thrive. And it came from three simple questions… Do we thrive? If so, how? And if not, can we?
The answer I came up with is that (somehow) we do thrive. I see winks of goodness and joy most days. Will I still see them at the end of a summer-full-of-kids-and-love post-pandemic? Probably. This has required so much work though, loves. So much. I share in my post about the roller coaster of parenting in 2020…
I would love to reflect on the last year and say our days were organized and we flowed from task to task with ease…
That therapy was always just what we needed; we never had setbacks…
My writing was stellar every single day… and I wasn’t at all hard on myself when my body couldn’t meet the pace of my mind…
I took breaks when I needed them…
We loved one another well all day long…
But instead, I can say this - often little wars raged, fires needed to be put out; we burned ourselves trying to meet each others needs; and yet at the very same time our own oh-so-humans needs needed to be honored... met…
And I couldn’t control it.
I couldn't control our experience of life many, many days…
I promise there is a happy-ish ending on this read, by the way!
Also, there is still this part of me that feels as though there is always a happy-ish ending. After all we’ve been through, that’s a little strange - right?
Since I am personally an eternal optimist even after 2020 and 2017 and 2015 and 2011 and 2010 and 2006… (I hope you can laugh-cry a bit with me at how storms seem to ebb and flow!) I’m sharing a few quick reads in this edition to fling a little hope at whatever is going on in your One Precious Life!
How we thrive, sometimes, is simply a matter of shifting our perspective.
Amy writes,
"Are struggling to see the goodness? I wish I could make all the hard go away, but I cannot. We have to notice the small blessings.
Try this:
Take a moment and notice.
Stop what you are doing, close your eyes and take a deep breath.
Now look around you... What do you see in front of you right now that you can be grateful for? Use all your senses. What goodness to you feel, smell, hear, see, or taste?
Can you thank God for that goodness?"
We expand upon this more in our post here. And remind you that hardness… trauma - new or old - overwhelms the brains ability to cope. Hence, we forget how to cope… how to thrive. Gratitude has consistently been a game changer for me!
One more read.
Because gratitude isn’t magic and thriving (I believe) is in the eye of the beholder, I had to share with you Lauren’s encouragement today.
To the Caregiving Mama with love…
TO THE MAMA who sees the encouraging accounts explaining her days would be much better if she’d take time to get herself ready every single morning. And, she silently sighs with sadness.
TO THE MAMA who sees the beautiful accounts saying her life would function much better if she was consistent with a cleaning schedule and taught her children to be more independent by helping with it. And, she silently agrees with a sigh of sadness. With years of accumulated lack of sleep held high within her messy bun, she begins another unpredictable day of caregiving mama stewardship with HOPE SEWN within HER SOUL... read more
If our hope is in gratitude, in a messy-bun-free day (or curly hair that’s tamed - this is hard, folks!), in anything other than Jesus… and how he consistently fills every gap - especially the one’s we don’t notice… our hearts will keep breaking.
So, as summer starts here in the US and life begins again and we worry about things we haven’t had to in a while or we continue to worry about the same things we have… let us each and all find hope. Be it significant or small or scary. Let us find it. Let us dig in for it. And maybe… just maybe… you’ll find yourself thriving too in your very own way.
Cheering you on.
(Always.)
J.
Jennifer Magnano