So it’s important…

When I was in my 20s…and 30s…and maybe a little in my 40s….it was very important to me that things were celebrated on the right day. If my birthday was on Tuesday, I wanted to celebrate on Tuesday. If an anniversary was on a Thursday, I wanted to celebrate on Thursday.  I didn’t want to celebrate on the weekend, which would have been easier and given us more time. It needed to be on the exact day of the significant event.

Then, a few years ago, I stopped. My family of 6, had turned into a family of 17. My children had become parents and in-laws and step parents. There were A LOT of people that wanted to see my people on holidays. This resulted in my kids being overwhelmed every holiday, trying to get to 4 or 5 “celebrations” and not enjoying any of them. In addition, I only got them for a short time each holiday before they had to head to their next destination.  I decided that we needed to change something, so we did.

This year my family of 6 is a family of 20! We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. I get more time with my people and they get to enjoy our family time.  I stopped giving the day on the calendar significance, and instead, I have started placing the significance on the time with my family, whenever that gets to occur. This year we are moving our family Thanksgiving celebration to the Saturday after.

This caused me to begin thinking about the importance of, well anything really. A day, an event, a person, etc. all only have the amount of significance that we choose to assign to them. We’ve all been in love and assigned that person top priority in our life, only to break up and that person now has little or no significance in our life.

Do you see what I’m saying? Any day, is just a day, until you decide it’s more to you. Any person is just a person, until you decide they are more to you. Any event is nothing, until you decide it isn’t. I was talking with someone recently who had worked for months to do well on an assessment that could result in a promotion. They told me that if they fail, all their self-esteem would fall to nothing, and they didn’t know if they could recover. They were thinking of quitting, to avoid the possibility of failure. I told them, “Don’t give this one event the power to invalidate everything you have accomplished.” Don’t give anything so much significance that if it doesn’t go well it destroys you, or invalidates who you are. Not a wedding, not a holiday, no test, no interview, no person. You choose how much power you assign to anything in your life.

What are you giving significance to? You can choose. Do you need to examine the things you hold so tightly (rigidly) and see if the significance is misplaced? Is there something  that you fear failing at because you think that means YOU are a failure? It doesn’t.

Be kind, be grateful, be courageous,

Jules

 

So….I’m valuable.

I pulled a crisp new twenty dollar bill from my wallet. She watched me quietly. “How much is this worth?” I asked. “Twenty dollars.” she replied. I crumpled it up in my hand. “How much is this worth?” I asked again. “Still twenty dollars.” she said with a quizzical look. I threw it on the floor and enthusiastically stomped on it. “How much now?”. “Still twenty.” she smiled this time knowing where I was going. I took the twenty and carefully straightened it out. “It’s a little bit weathered now, from all the mistreatment, but it’s value is still the same. This is you.” I held out the twenty with the wrinkles and creases. She teared up. “You are so valuable. You hold so much worth. And yes, some people in your life haven’t recognized that. Some people have crumpled you up and stomped on you. But it didn’t change your worth. It didn’t change your value. It says more about them then it says about you.” We sat in silence while she contemplated my illustration. She cried quietly. I waited silently, giving her space to experience her emotions. “No one has ever told me that.” she said. “I always thought that if someone rejected me it meant there is something wrong with me.” She sat quietly again. Then she whispered, “But it doesn’t have to does it?” I smiled as I could see her rolling new thoughts around, trying them on like a new outfit, turning this way and that as she formed an opinion on them.

When we let the opinions of others form our opinion of our self, we are in danger of our value being determined by the acceptance or rejection they give us. There is internal validation and external validation. Internal validation come from inside us. It’s our own knowledge of who we are, good and bad, and our acceptance of that. External validation comes from outside of us. It’s the opinions of others based on our looks, our opinions, our performance, our actions, etc. We are a culture of judges. We feel we have the right to judge others constantly. I do it. I comment on people on TV, on their actions, their outfits, their opinions. Isn’t that the point of reality TV? To make us all judges? I don’t do it as often in real life. I’m pretty okay with letting others be who they are, but it’s not always easy. As a friend once told me, “I’m aware of my faults and I’m working on them.”

We all want positive external validation. It’s human nature. An acknowledgement of our effort, a compliment on our looks, a respect for our opinion, appreciation of our work. It feels really good. But what if we don’t receive it? Or even worse, what if we are rejected? I’ve been rejected. It hurts. It can make us question ourselves. It can make us lose our confidence. It can make us feel worthless and fragile. But it doesn’t have to does it?

If you can do the work to honestly know who you are, not the you meeting others expectations, not the you on social media, not the you that’s your front, but the authentic you. with all your imperfections and quirks and awesome qualities. If you do the work and face who you are, and become friends with that you, and accept yourself completely, no one can make you feel worthless again. Your value is then based on your internal validation. If external validation comes, YAY! soak it in, delight in the feeling. But, if no validation comes, or rejection comes, you will know that you are still the same person, and that rejection takes nothing away from who you are. It still hurts, but it doesn’t destroy.  You’ll be a bit more weathered from all the mistreatment, but your value will remain the same.

Once we are able to accept who we are, we can let others be who they are. We no longer need others to agree with us, because it’s no threat to our worth if they don’t. It frees us up to experience others in a new way, not needing anything from them. If they have no perceived power over our value, then we no longer have the need to beg, coerce, manipulate, or perform for them. We can enjoy others with no fear.  And that is a beautiful way to live your life.

Be kind, be grateful, be courageous,

Jules

So I’m…a mom

(Disclaimer…I know there are lots of daddies that show up as well, but only having experience of a mama, I speak from that. If you are a daddy and this applies to you, share it with your daddy friends.)

My son surprised me. He likes to do this. He said he wasn’t coming home for Christmas and I have been cursing the Army for a month for keeping both my boys from me. Thursday morning the doorbell rang and there he was, with his wife and kids, and I was totally confused. I was thrilled, but so confused. He showed up and all my sadness was gone. Those sweet baby kisses came, and I forgot all the days I had cried over them not coming home.

This post is for all you mamas who are especially busy this time of year. All of you who feel mommy guilt for not getting it all done. The ones worrying about not getting every teacher a gift, and decorating cookies with the kids like Pinterest. For all of you who are lucky to get all the gifts wrapped, let alone put bows and tags on them. For all of you that worry your kid will be scarred for life because you didn’t watch Christmas movies in matching jammies and write letters to Santa.

You worry about getting the presents they want, making the money work, getting to the programs at school and church. You go to the store with toddlers and babies to buy gifts, because finding a babysitter costs too much. You have to remember a million things, and then your second grader says they need a reindeer headband the next morning at school.

Mamas worry about everything all year. Mamas worry more at Christmas time. So many celebrations, so many places to take the kids and get them off their schedules. So many opportunities to feed into our mama insecurities.  I know. I was you. I remember.

You’ve never heard what I’m going to say. I’m going to tell you what Christmas is about. It’s about God showing up. It’s about God saying “I’m coming to you.” and then showing up. That tiny baby in the manger was God, choosing to be human, choosing to depend on humans for his life, choosing to experience all we humans experience, because of his love for us. He’s a great father.

Mamas, hear what I’m saying to you. Kids know who shows up. They know who is there every single day, listening, reading their favorite book for the 36th time, feeding them, taking them places, kissing boo-boos and healing broken hearts. Laughing and celebrating and having impromptu dance parties. They may be disappointed Christmas day if they don’t get the toy on the top of the list, but you show up every day, and that makes all the difference.  You show up. You’re a great mama. You show up, out of your love for your children, just like God.

Be kind to yourself this season. Give yourself credit for showing up the other 364 days, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself to make this one day perfect. Because it won’t be. Do what you can, and enjoy the time with your family. My 85 year old mom tells me often “The days go slow, but the years go fast. Enjoy your moments.” Merry Christmas mama❤

Be kind, be grateful, be courageous,

Jules

 

So I’m a work in progress…

There are things I do well, things I do poorly and things I just do. Generally the things I do well are things I spend time working on, although there are some things we all do well without trying much. Oftentimes the things I do poorly are things I’m not really into or want to get better at. I like playing tennis, but I’m the girl on the court hitting the ball like a softball and knocking it out of the fence. This makes my partner (Big Daddy) rather frustrated. If I really wanted to get better at tennis, I could. I could practice and watch videos and spend time on the court.

I found this quote by Francis Chan the other day, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Let that soak in. What are you trying to succeed at? What are you putting your time and effort into? What’s worth it to you to spend time on the court for?

I’m a wife, mom, grandma, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, therapist…see where I’m going with this? I have a number of roles. You do, too. My roles aren’t my identity. All of my roles could change. My identity is who I am at my core, independent of my roles. The more I work on my identity, the better I am at my roles. I love validation from my family that I’m good at my roles. Validation from my friends that I’m a good friend. Validation from my bosses and co-workers and clients that I’m a good therapist. We all enjoy external validation from others.

For me, what really matters is about my identity. Here’s what I want to succeed at: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. The Bible calls these the “fruits of the spirit”. These are the things I want to succeed at. These are choices I make every day, over and over, because it’s the kind of person I want to be (identity). I spend time on the court working on these attributes because it’s what matters to me,  not for external validation. When I see myself succeeding in these areas the internal validation affirms my identity and who I am independent of my roles.

I’m not perfect at any of this. Some days I completely miss the mark in some areas. But, I’ve learned not to beat myself up about it. I just tell myself “I’m a work in progress.” and keep aiming in the direction I want to go. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” What matters to you? What do you want to spend time on the court for?

Be kind, be grateful, be courageous,

Jules