“If we are forever yearning for ‘more,’ we are forever discounting what is offered.
~Julia Cameron
As we approach the last days of summer, panic takes hold inside me: The kids are going back to school and there must be a long list of opportunities that I’ve missed!
I have to derail these thoughts of inadequacy because I know how quickly I can crash into a pit of despair. (Despair is a distraction I’ve long relied upon.)
I also like to rely on distraction itself, as a distraction, and thus after derailing inadequacy, I launch in another direction: What last day of summer activity could I do with the kids that would unify us, elevate us and define us… as summer winners!
But satisfying a 46 year-old mother, a 10 year old, and a reluctant to do anything TEEN derails this distraction all by itself, and I give up, and give in: to the end of summer and the end of possibility and the end of a better Mom.
Instead, I pull out the stack of thank you cards that I’ve been avoiding, and engage the whole family in writing notes of appreciation to some of the people who made the our summer special–mainly relatives who hosted us on our recent trip “home.”
Next, I enlist the boys in “giving back”–To the kitchen which has provided three meals a day and countless snacks all summer long. Aidan scrubs the cabinet doors and Lloyd does the counters.
As the boys work, inadequacy takes hold of me again with thoughts of what we might be doing instead… Hiking, canoeing, miniature golfing, taking in a matinee, enjoying a leisurely lunch out…
But the truth is– our summer has been filled with that kind of fun–so maybe it’s time to STOP and surrender the doing.
Maybe it’s time to follow the advice that I give to mothers and teachers as each season ends:
Shift from goals to gratitude.
And so I do.
And I am.
We are.
Grateful.
The Empty Nest Diary 
Kelly, I really like that – “shift from goals to gratitude”.
I’m finding myself more drawn to wise, older women. My husband says that’s because I am becoming one.
Recently, a wise, older woman said to me, “The two most important things in life are gratitude and forgiveness.” I think she’s right.
LikeLike
I love this post. I love how perfectly you capture that desire to be summer winners. What a brilliant idea to turn to gratitude. The cleaning of the kitchen makes me think of the practice of cleaning in the martial arts (other disciplines, too). I am so glad you re-posted this post! It couldn’t have hit at a more perfect time.
LikeLike