The Good News About The Bad News
I learnt this wee gem from a parenting blog a while back.
When things go wrong - FIRST ask 'What's the good news about the bad news?'
My kids - tween and teen - missed their school bus this morning. Only just- but still, a miss is a miss!
This doesn't happen too often (though lately a bit too often tbh). But when it does, what's the point of getting stressed about it?
It is what it is. And we're lucky that as a voice artist working from my home studio, I pretty much set my own hours. Usually I can jump in and give them a lift.
Staying calm in the mornings is my resolution for this school year. To have my kids leave the house feeling loved, with a smile on their faces - or at least less of a scowl... they are a tween and teen, remember! So my job is to make light of 'disasters', reassure them about omissions ('you have five different subjects today - it's ok that you forgot one small thing, your brain is pretty busy,) and deliver hugs before the front door is open (no public displays of affection allowed!).
So when we saw, from our handily placed front door, the bus driving up to the just-too-far-away bus stop, I called it.
My morning coffee was half drunk, so I said yes, the kids could watch a little of their current favourite Netflix show while I got a TEN MINUTE WINDOW OF EMPTINESS. Win win.
I returned to the kitchen, sat at the quiet table, looked out across the frosty meadow in the rising sun, and breathed.
I'm not good at doing that. If you think about it - and not very hard - if I can make time to take the kids to college, then I have time to meditate, or watch the sun hitting the hills in the distance, or do a spot of yoga - every morning.
Instead I do the dishes, hang the washing, start checking my inbox for voiceover enquiries and auditions, make a list of today’s ‘to do’s’.
Instead, there I was enjoying my ten empty minutes and revelling in The Good News About The Bad News.
Which was tripled because:
1/ Ten quiet minutes with my coffee and the view
2/ Big smiles on my kids' faces
3/ The drive to their college is GORGEOUS. We live near the mountains. I usually run at least three times a week but have been injured since the last day of 2021 (bone bruise-nasty) and can barely take a walk let alone run. So am missing the countryside and the views. The rising sun hitting the snowy mountains and casting rays across the frosted valley... enriching.
So next time something goes a wee bit awry in your day, try thinking 'What's the good news about this bad news?'
It's a life saver.
#parenting #work #positivethinking #positivity #raisingteens #volife #voiceoverartist