I was asked “how you live your best life? How you encourage your family to live their best life?”
Those are tough questions! They are big questions too. A question like that can’t be stratified with an answer such as “I smile.” or “I am happy.” I once was told I was “too bubbly” when I was an early morning phone call for work trying to work out an issue we were having. I admit that I laughed but I do believe that both Brian and my sister laughed harder when they heard that description of me. I am not a bubbly person in the morning. I do not love mornings as that means I have to crawl out of the warm bed and get not only myself moving but 4 other people moving. Yet to that person on the phone that morning, I was bubbly because I was in a good mood trying to solve the issue and continue on with day instead of being bogged down by it and that one task ruin my whole day.
I do admit that I manage to get through most days at the office but when I get home, I am spent. I am tired and my tank is empty. I have really tried to focus on ignoring the empty when I get home and letting my kids fill me back up. Their energy is exhausting. As my brother recently said “They never stop.” They don’t. We are working to get the kids more involved in what we do around the house and helping. If Grace is helping clean the dining room table and I am doing dishes, I not only have a chore but an opportunity to talk to her about her day or a topic that she likes to discuss. Those little changes in focusing not on how I feel when I get home have helped me greatly as I try to live my best life.
As for encouraging the family to live their best life, this is a changing target at our house. The kids are well still young ones! Our oldest only six but we make it a point to let the kids hear our discussions about finances, chores, and even shopping lists so they can see what it takes to run a household. So while we know we make mistakes, we let kids know that we working towards the goal of living the best life we can within our means!
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Note: I was compensated for writing this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and The Clorox Lounge blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here.
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