I have been working on cultivating a spirit of positivity. A "yes, of course!" mindset. I know a lot of books have been written on the topic of saying "NO", creating boundaries for yourself, respecting your limits, all that stuff, but have you ever thought of how you could improve your life, and the life of others by saying "Sure!"? It is not always easy, in fact it can be really hard. When your child looks at you at 9:30pm and says, "Mom can you sew my jockstrap tonight, it broke today at practice"--- meanwhile he has been home since 5:30, ate dinner, did homework, played a bit of video games, and it didn't come up until I was completely relaxed. Of course my gut reaction is to rant about how inconsiderate it is, and yes, I have been guilty of that rant more than once. What I aspire to do however, is to say, "sure honey" kiss him on the cheek goodnight, then remind him in the morning that it would be helpful to me if he presented me with these needs earlier in the evening. When a friend needs help, maybe their child needs a ride, maybe they don't feel well and are in need of a break, these things don't always happen when our schedule is wide open-- sometimes we have to put aside the busyness of our schedule and say "sure honey, I'd be happy to help, just let me know what I can do." "No" comes easier and faster on my tongue, followed by a list of reasons why I am too busy, or to tired to help (my sons, my husband, my sister....etc...), but I don't like the way it sounds coming out of my mouth. I don't like the way it makes other people feel. So, I made a choice a while back to say "Yes, of course", way more often than I say "No". I like who I am WAY better as a woman who helps. :)
I am swirling in chaos! Our little remodeling projects, ie: painting the boys rooms, have resulted in a whirl of mess, mess, mess. My husband has been diligently painting walls, repurposing furniture, meanwhile all of the clothing, shoes, toys, junk, furniture we are no longer using, etc... is lining the hallways and rooms of my house! We have tried to engage the boys in this project, but it has somehow eluded them that they have any responsibility for putting the house back together, so it it a painful exercise of command and whine. Today, we must put it back, we cannot start the week in madness. So my day, is going to be interesting. They need to help, a lot. I need to figure out how to motivate them to help, without them feeling like they are being tortured. Wish me luck, at 10:30, video games, and NFL TV go off, and cleaning commences. I'd better have another cup of coffee, and pray for the next half hour, I'm gonna need it.
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