Are You Too Stressed To Care?

I recently read one of Jon Gordon’s newsletters about stress and being too busy and that is where I started to think. Am I making myself too busy? Jon stated that he was too busy to reach down and pet his dog one day, even though he knew that petting his dog was a great stress reliever and it would not only please the dog, but would please him as well. It made me think…how many times have I told my child to hold on a second when they have come to me while I am trying to blog or cook or even fold laundry? Is what I’m doing really so important that I can’t take a second to hear the story of my child? Sometimes those stories are what helps me get through my day. I need to make sure I take the time to listen.

This reminds me, two of our children are playing soccer and they arrived home from practice last week with a large box full of chocolates. The bars were to be sold for $1 a piece and our boys were quickly pulling out birthday money to purchase candy bars. While I thought this was a clever tactic on their part because they would each get the candy they wanted and they would not have to sell the bars to family and friends, I certainly didn’t want them eating a $60 box of chocolates all by themselves. So, we decided to limit the chocolate to only a few bars each. Our 3 year old comes to me a couple of days later with a chocolate bar. He says…

“Mommy, can I have a candy bar?”

I tell him no, it’s too early.

He waits about 30 minutes or so and comes back to me with a chocolate bar in one hand and a dollar in the other. He says…

“Now can I have a candy bar Mommy?”

I smile and ask him where he got the dollar in which he replies…

“Your purse”.

He didn’t understand that it was early and Mom didn’t want him eating chocolate for breakfast. He simply thought he could pay for the chocolate bar and it would be his. Very clever boy might I add—especially at 3 years old.

I feel like I need to think more like him sometimes though. There have been many times when I have been faced with a challenge and rather than finding a good solution I have simply given up.

Jon Gordon says that we need to stay positive. Taking a positive attitude even when things aren’t going the way we want can help us turn things around.

The next time you are faced with something negative try to turn it into a positive.

Enjoy your day friends !