I've been thinking over
the way in which what we think is difficult, as we slowly live our lives and
slowly grow older, are really kind of nothing, compared to the things we
increasingly encounter.
Funny how that works, right? And in this process of living our lives, unless we crash and burn, we slowly become stronger and, if we work really hard at it, increasingly resilient.
I remember discovering some similar dynamic when I had my babies. There the newborn would be in your arms, mine were all huge, and it would be so tiring, just lugging them around, holding them up while they nursed for hours, putting on them on one shoulder and then the other, as you attempted to eat and wash a few dishes and do things.
And the thing was, they kept getting bigger and heavier. And as they did, your workout, your muscular development, increased also. So that by the time you're lugging about the two-year-old or even the three-year-old, held to your hip, as you went about your day, you really had gotten a whole lot stronger physically.
There was also that deal where, with one newborn, it was devastating. Exhausting, overwhelming, sweetest thing in the world, but really.
And yet, if it was your third newborn, and you already had another baby, and an older kid, or whatever your deal was, then the first situation just completely paled by comparison.
You thought to yourself " How on earth did I think that was so impossible?"
With all things, we slowly learn that, all things being equal, our strength and agility dealing with situations can slowly increase. Our endurance. Our wisdom.
And it's really worth the effort to see if that can be the direction we go in , versus the opposite, when all that happens is that things fall apart.
At the end of the day, what we realize is that that tough thing that happened when you were 20 - really was that tough. It's just that the experience when you're 42, or may be 63, is something even more difficult. It's all in the context of the situation.
I think about these things, waiting out in the gorgeous warm fall day, overdressed, my husband in with the dentist, all the rich and difficult and precious and unfathomable aspects of life puttering right along.
Funny how that works, right? And in this process of living our lives, unless we crash and burn, we slowly become stronger and, if we work really hard at it, increasingly resilient.
I remember discovering some similar dynamic when I had my babies. There the newborn would be in your arms, mine were all huge, and it would be so tiring, just lugging them around, holding them up while they nursed for hours, putting on them on one shoulder and then the other, as you attempted to eat and wash a few dishes and do things.
And the thing was, they kept getting bigger and heavier. And as they did, your workout, your muscular development, increased also. So that by the time you're lugging about the two-year-old or even the three-year-old, held to your hip, as you went about your day, you really had gotten a whole lot stronger physically.
There was also that deal where, with one newborn, it was devastating. Exhausting, overwhelming, sweetest thing in the world, but really.
And yet, if it was your third newborn, and you already had another baby, and an older kid, or whatever your deal was, then the first situation just completely paled by comparison.
You thought to yourself " How on earth did I think that was so impossible?"
With all things, we slowly learn that, all things being equal, our strength and agility dealing with situations can slowly increase. Our endurance. Our wisdom.
And it's really worth the effort to see if that can be the direction we go in , versus the opposite, when all that happens is that things fall apart.
At the end of the day, what we realize is that that tough thing that happened when you were 20 - really was that tough. It's just that the experience when you're 42, or may be 63, is something even more difficult. It's all in the context of the situation.
I think about these things, waiting out in the gorgeous warm fall day, overdressed, my husband in with the dentist, all the rich and difficult and precious and unfathomable aspects of life puttering right along.
No comments:
Post a Comment