My loving hubby gifted me with a day at the spa after a long winter break with my kids. Don’t get me wrong I loved my winter break. Tons of mellow, down time with the kids, time with family and friends, just no down time for ME. Something I’ve learned a while ago that Is non-negotiable for me to be in true balance. In my most Full Self. So I set off on my day. I left early in the morning, met my mom and my sister-in-law, and had a perfect spa day. Lovely facial, sauna, steam, nap…perfect. The weather was even gorgeous enough to hang out by the pool and enjoy a delicious lunch. I left the spa blissed out and happy pores. We wandered around Costco and then made it home in the late afternoon. Just enough time for me to play with the kiddos, feed them, send them off to bed, and hang out with Ben.
I was Revived. I was back. I was ready to Mom and Wife again.
No less than 30 minutes later, Hannah comes to me crying that her ear is hurting. Really?!? It progressively gets worse…and so does the crying! Really?!! We head off to Urgent care, wait, check in, wait, see a nurse, wait,….. You know the drill. It was one of the hardest times at Urgent Care with this kid. I’ve never seen her hurt so much. I practiced taking care of me, so I can take care of her. I was the best loving mom I could be. 3 hours later we are home, with meds for an ear infection, and three sleeping kids. What a day!
So here’s the perspective shift.
I have two paths…
1) I am grateful for the spa time. It allowed me to reconnect with myself, with my calm, with my center. I am grateful I had this time so I could best deal with the next set of cards that were dealt. This is not my ideal way to spend the evening after such a lovely day, but things happen and I can handle it. I was grounded in my own knowing that she will be ok, and will feel better soon.
Or
2) Ugh, I can’t catch a break! Every time I try to relax something has to mess it up! There’s never time for ME! I feel like whenever something good happens, something bad always takes it away!
See where this is headed?
The Same day, the same set of circumstances, Two different ways of seeing it!
This is happening to us all day long, every single moment, at every breath.
We are given opportunities to trust the Flow of life, to trust the Timing of events, to Believe that we can handle what is given to us when we honor ourselves and our feelings on a regular basis.
I had a beautiful day. That doesn’t change. The majority of my focus was on the luxurious spa time. The rest was a tiny bump in the road, important to know how to navigate, but not my life sentence.